PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Lead: Contamination (4 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding he has allocated for the remediation of contaminated land surrounding abandoned lead mines in the the next five years.

Asked by:
Sir Julian Smith (Conservative)

Funding to support local authorities in fulfilling their statutory obligations under part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to inspect potential contaminated sites and to seek remediation where required, remains in the form of the Revenue Support Grant.

The Revenue Support Grant is an unringfenced block grant covering many services. It is up to local authorities to decide how much funding is allocated to any service based on local priorities and they are held to account locally.

Through the Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme - a partnership between Defra, the Environment Agency and the Coal Authority - government is taking action to develop mine water treatment schemes and diffuse interventions to prevent metals from abandoned metal mines, including lead, entering local river systems. Pollution from abandoned metal mines can contaminate land, such as when spoil heaps contaminated by these mines wash into rivers following heavy rainfall, prior to wash onto agricultural floodplains following flooding events. Many diffuse interventions include natural flood management measures to slow the flow of rivers, along with planting of trees and other vegetation which sequester carbon dioxide in soils.

Local Authorities have the duty to inspect their Areas to identify contaminated land, including land contaminated by lead. If a Local Authority had concerns about land contamination, then they have relevant duties and powers under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to investigate and require the responsible person(s) to carry out remediation if they identify any contaminated land.

Answered by:
Emma Hardy (Labour)
14 October 2024