Searches User Guide: Current industrial land use

Recent industrial land uses

Current potentially contaminative industrial sites sourced from Ordnance Survey. The data will provide information on the type of activity undertaken. Groundsure has analysed this data and selected specific sites for inclusion dependent on the potential for contaminative activities to have taken place.

Current or recent petrol stations

Open, closed, under development and obsolete petrol stations taken from the Catalist dataset. The classifications are broken down as shown below:

Status	Description
Not surveyed	No further information is yet available on this site and a site survey is required.
Open	Site is currently operating.
Under development	Site is closed for development or redevelopment and there is evidence to suggest that construction work is in progress.
Closed	Site is not retailing petrol, however the canopy and pumps are still present.
Out of industry	Site is not retailing petrol and likely to be in other use such as car sales.
Obsolete	Site is not retailing petrol, and has been redeveloped for alternative use (flats, offices etc.).

 

Hazardous substance storage/usage

Consents granted for a site to hold certain quantities of hazardous substances at or above defined limits in accordance with the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2015.

Sites determined as Contaminated Land 

These sites have been determined as contaminated land under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This database also includes sites listed as “potentially contaminated land” where Groundsure have information that these are either currently being investigated or the likelihood of them being investigated under Part 2A is considered high.

Historical licensed industrial activities

Discharges of trade or sewage effluent into rivers, lakes or coastal waters requires consent from the Environment Agency, which specifies the volume, nature and composition of the discharge. They include Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) records of substance releases to air, land and water. This data represents a historical archive as the IPC regime has been superseded.

Current or licensed industrial activities

Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales records of Part A(1) installations regulated under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 for the release of substances to the environment. Guidance on which facilities are regulated under Part A(1) can be found here.

Local Authority licensed pollutant release

Local Authority records of Part A(2) and Part B installations regulated under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 for the release of substances to the environment. Part A(2) permits are required for the following activities:

• Refining gas
• Metal works, eg producing pig iron or steel, casting ferrous metal, operating forge hammers or Applying fused metal coatings
• Melting non-ferrous metals
• Surface treating metals and plastic materials
• Grinding cement clinker or metallurgical slag
• Glass manufacturing
• Cellulose fibre reinforced calcium silicate board manufacturing
• Ceramic product manufacturing, including roof tiles and bricks
• Non-hazardous or animal waste incineration
• Manufacturing wood based boards, eg plywood
• New tyre manufacturing
• Disposing of or recycling animal carcasses or waste Part B permits are required for emissions to air.

Please note this dataset does not include permits for mobile installations.

Pollutant release to surface waters

Discharges of specified substances under the Environmental Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991 to air, land or water. Such substances include large heavy industrial processing and manufacturing plants and large sewage treatment works. Under the Environmental Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991, sites discharging certain substances regarded as exceptionally toxic, persistent or bio-accumulative, must hold consents to discharge under these Regulations. The Regulations provide a full listing of the substances in question, identified as Red List substances. Such discharge consents will set absolute limits for discharges and detail other factors such as provision of facilities for sampling and monitoring. Consents aim to ensure that the stringent SWQS provided under The Surface Waters (Dangerous Substances) (Classification) Regulations 1989 (as amended) are met.

The following substances constitute the Red List:

Cadmium & compounds	Endrin
Mercury & compounds	Endosulfan I & II (total)
Tributyl Tin Compounds	Trifluralin
Triphenyl Tin compounds	Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) each of 7 congeners
1,2 Dichlorethane	Dichlorvos
1,2,4 Trichlorobenzene (each congener)	Fenitrothion
Hexachlorobutadiene	Azinphos-methyl
Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH or Lindane)	Malathion
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB)	Atrazine
DDT isomers	Simazine
Aldrin	Pentachlorophenol & compounds (PCPs)
Dieldrin

Pollutant release to public sewer

These are trade effluents that discharge to the public sewer and contain particular substances, or derive from specific processes. They include Red List substances, effluents from the production of chlorinated organic chemicals, effluents from paper board and pulp processes into public sewers.

The Referrals of Red List Discharges to Sewers (Corporate Entities) dataset holds the details of all organisations, who have made an application to a sewerage undertaker for permission to release a Red List Substance into a public sewer under section 120 of the Water Industry Act 1991.

The term Red List refers to 23 of the most dangerous substances which were listed under the Environmental Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991. These substances were selected for priority control under the Integrated Pollution Control legislation (IPC) – subsequently superseded by the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) and then the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR).

The Water Industry Act 1991 directs sewerage undertakers who have received a notice containing an application for consent to discharge special category trade effluent from a trade premises into a public sewer, to refer to the Environment Agency the questions:

• Whether the discharges to which the notice relates should be prohibited
• Whether, if they are not prohibited, any requirements should be imposed as to the conditions on which they are made.

Dangerous industrial substances (D.S.I. List 1)

Discharges of exceptionally toxic, persistent or bio-accumulative substances identified on List 1 of European Directive E 2006/11/EC, and regulated under the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations. List 1 substances have the potential to cause the most harm to aquatic life due to their persistence, toxicity or bioaccumulation. The following substances are classified under List 1 by the Environment Agency:

Mercury (other)	Chloroform
Cadmium	1,2-dichloroethane
Hexachlorocyclohexane	Trichlorethylene
Carbon tetrachloride	Perchlorethylene
Para-para-DDT	Trichlorobenzene
Pentachlorophenol	Total DDT
Aldrin	Total “drins”
Dieldrin (other)	Mercury (chloralkali)
Endrin	Hexachlorobenzene
Isodrin	Hexachlorobutadiene

Dangerous industrial substances (D.S.I. List 2)

Discharges of substances identified on List 2 of European Directive E 2006/11/EC, and regulated under the Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2015. The following substances are classified under List 2 by the Environment Agency:

Arsenic	Azinphos-methyl	Napthalene
Boron	Endosulphan	Omethoate
Chromium	Fenitrothion	Toluene
Copper	Malathion	Trizaphos
Cyanide	Trifluralin	Xylene
Cyfluthrin	4-Chloro-3-methyl-phenol	Organotin
Dichlorvos	2-Chlorophenol	Matels
Eulan (PCDS)	2,4-Dichlorophenol	Organohalogens
Flucofuron	2,4-D(ester)	Chlorinated hydrocarbons
Iron	2,4-D(non-ester)	Total metals (dissolved)
Lead	1,1,1-Trichloroethane	Total metals (total)
Nickel	1,1,2-Trichloroethane	Total metals (non-ferrous)
Permethrin	Bentazone	Xylene (m+p)
PH	Benzene	Xylene (o)
Silver	Biphenyl	Agrochemicals
Sulcofuron	Chloronitrotoluenes	Phenol
Tributyltin	Demeton	Total pesticides
Triphenyltin	Dimethoate	In addition to “All new List 2 substances”
Vanadium	Linuron	Mecoprop
Zinc	MCPA	Mevinphos
Atrazine & Simazine

Pollution Incidents

Records of substantiated pollution incidents. Since 2006 this data has only included category 1 (major) and 2 (significant) pollution incidents. Pollution incidents within this dataset are those that have been brought to the attention of the Environment Agency and may have an environmental and/or operation impact. They are recorded as either a breach of a permit, licence or consent or to an incident at an unregulated site. Each incident has a discrete impact rating for air, water and land.

Incident category	Description
Category 1 (major)	Persistent effect on water quality, closure of abstraction point, extensive fish mortality, excessive breaches of consent conditions, significant effect on amenity value or conservation.
Category 2 (significant)	Potential or actual effect on water quality, notification to water abstractors, significant fish mortality, water unfit for stock watering, bed of watercourse contaminated, reduction in amenity value.
Category 3 (minor)	Low fish mortality, bed of watercourse only locally contaminated around point of discharge, minimal impact and amenity only marginally affected.
Category 4 (unsubstantiated)	Reported incident, upon investigation no evidence can be found of incident having occurred.

Part A(1), IPPC and Historic IPC Authorisations (Scotland only)

Records of Part A installations regulated for the release of substances to the environment sourced from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Part B Authorisations (Scotland only)

Records of Part B installations regulated for the release of substances to air sourced from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Dangerous or explosive sites 

Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) sites. This data includes upper and lower tier sites, and includes a historical archive of COMAH sites and Notification of Installations Handling Hazardous Substances (NIHHS) records. The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH) implement the requirements of the COMAH Directive (1996) and are also cross-referenced in the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2015.