16.9 Some sites in Thanet are known to be contaminated. The allocation of sites should not be taken as an indication that they are free from any hazardous/physical constraints, or that they are not in the vicinity of other instillations handling hazardous substances.

16.10 Development on contaminated land will require a site investigation and assessment to establish the levels of contamination present and identify any remedial measures to clean the site to make it suitable for its proposed end use.

16.11 A County-wide Contaminated Land Strategy is being prepared by the Kent & Medway Contaminated Land Forum and will form part of the evidence base for this Plan once it has been finalised. The strategy provides information across the county in place of former Planning Policy Statement 23 (PPS23). The Council has a Contaminated Land Strategy for the district - this is currently being reviewed.

Policy SE03 - Contaminated Land

Development proposals that would enable contaminated sites to be brought into beneficial use will normally be permitted, so long as the sites can be rendered suitable for the proposed end use in terms of the impact on human health, public safety and the environment, including underlying groundwater resources.

Development on land known or suspected to be contaminated or likely to be adversely affected by such contamination will only be permitted where:

1) An appropriate site investigation and assessment (agreed by the Council) has been carried out as part of the application to establish whether contamination is present and to identify any remedial measures necessary to ensure that the site is suitable for the proposed end use;

2) The proposed remedial measures would be acceptable in planning terms and would provide effective safeguards against contamination hazards during the development and subsequent occupation of the site.

Planning conditions will be attached to any consent to ensure that remedial measures are fully implemented, before occupation.

In the case of sites where contamination is only considered to be a possible risk, a site investigation will be required by condition. Sites where contamination is believed to have been removed or where the full site history is unknown should not be able to be considered as contaminated land under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in relation to the untended use of the land.