Contaminated land is defined legally as land where substances could cause:
Significant harm to people or protected species
Significant pollution of surface waters or groundwater
The phrase ‘Contaminated land’ is used in general terms to describe land polluted by substances such as heavy metals (such as arsenic, cadmium and lead), oils and tars, chemicals (such as solvents), asbestos, etc. Contamination of land can result acutely from incidents such as spillages or be borne from historic activities such as demolition in the past or an historic use of the site such as former factories, steelworks, refineries, landfills, printing works, photographic industry, chemical processing and storage, fuels, animal by-products, sewage works, tanneries, timber treatment. The list is endless!