Hi Andrew(s),
Interesting to come across this update on the Wheathamsted Sainsburys
application - for which I too attended one of the store's public meeting
attempts to convince the villagers that they desperately needed a
superstore.

Murphy's was, I think, a pretty exceptionally contaminated site though: I
recall a meeting with an NRA officer, where he was of the opinion that just
a bucket of 'soil' from the site getting into the River Lea nearby, could
wipe out life for miles down stream!

Shame that the houses that were built instead, are so out of character with
the village centre not far away though.

As for the 'coal yard', it rather depends on what the coal yard was for: if
it was part of a gas works for example, there could be all manner of nasty
residues present - sulphuric acid - coal tar/phenolic compounds, and so on.
Even just a pile of 'coal' could be quite acid if there was any amount of
iron pyrite in for example, as this 'rusts' to give off sulphuric acid,
which rain would then wash down into the soil. One has to wonder, how your
'few hundredweight' got to be 'spread out over an acre or so': could be a
lot more than just coal 'levelled' into your plot by whoever prepared the
land following its previous use.

You should look at the whole history of the site in question and thus get
yourself a better idea of the kind of contamination that might be present.
You may also find that your planning authority turns out to be the best
people to advise on both this and any remediation that might be required as
they have I believe, been required to compile data on sites likely to be
contaminated, that fall within their area.

S


"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Andrew Mawson" writes:
Has anyone on list had experience of contractors decontaminating land?
We are buying a parcel of land, part of which was once used as a coal
yard, so there is the odd bit of coal still lying arround, not much
but definately some. Planning permission has been granted for a barn
conversion, but is conditional on a contamination survey, ( inc soil,
soil gas, surface and ground water sampling) the be carried out by 'a
suitably qualified and accredited consultant/contractor..' At the end
of the day it is only a few bits of coal, maybe a few hundredweight
spread over an acre or so, but somthing is going to have to be
sacrified to the local planning gods and some form of decontamination
process carried out.

If you buy the land, you become legally responsible
for decontaminating it, which you have to do.

Sainsbury's bought a large plot in Wheathamstead (Herts)
for a superstore, on which they didn't get planning permission.
Then it was discovered to be contaminated (was the development
site for Murphy's Chemicals in the 1950's and 1960's).
Sainsbury's then had to fork out 10 times the cost of the land
to have it decontaminated. Half of it now has a housing estate
on it (I bet they don't have too many problems with insects and
slugs in their vegetable patches;-), and the other half has got
to run as reed bed for 25 years (at least) to continue the
decontamination.

At the public exhibition, I heard one of the Sainsbury's staff
say the person who bought the land for Sainsbury's and believed
it to have been decontanimated without having it thoroughly
tested first was fired.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]