What we do

Newham's industrial heritage has left a complex pattern of land contamination. We investigate areas of potentially contaminated land and work within the planning process to ensure developments are safe for their intended use.

These former sites offer huge regeneration potential. Large areas of these brownfield sites have been brought back to beneficial use, aided by the Council's strong commitment to regeneration.

The Council's Public Protection section acts to:

• Investigate areas of potentially contaminated land in accordance with the Council's Contaminated Land Strategy
• Arrange for the cleaning up of seriously contaminated land
• In co-operation with development control, ensure that old industrial land (brownfield sites) are safely brought back into use
• Keep a computerised register of contamination in Newham
• Provide information and advice to the public on land contamination
• Provide reports on land contamination for developers and others (a charge may be made for this service)

The management of land in Newham is closely linked to the planning process through the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Working to Newham's Unitary Development Plan, contaminated land strategy and government planning guidance ensures that land contamination is taken into account at all stages of the planning process.

To aid the swift processing of planning applications for potentially contaminated sites, a guidance leaflet on how to prepare reports on developing contaminated land is available to download as a PDF document below.

The development of contaminated sites leaflet