What's in the record?
The contaminated land public record is a searchable database of:
- orders made under Part 3 of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 (CLM Act)
- approved voluntary management proposals under the CLM Act that have not been fully carried out and where DECC's approval has not been revoked
- site audit statements provided to DECC under section 53B of the CLM Act that relate to significantly contaminated land
- where practicable, copies of anything formerly required to be part of the public record,
- actions taken by DECC under section 35 or 36 of the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act 1985 (EHC Act) *
* Some notices under section 35 of the EHC Act 1985 were issued by the State Pollution Control Commission, which was the NSW Government agency responsible for managing contaminated sites before the EPA was established in 1992.
Actions taken by DECC involve written notices. Section 58 of the CLM Act requires DECC to make available copies or details of these notices to the public.
Changes to notices from 1 July 2009
The record includes all notices issued under the CLM Act including those prior to the commencement of the CLM Amendment Act 2008.
Terminology prior to 1 July 2009 | Former CLM Act section | Terminology on or after 1 July 2009 | Current CLM Act section |
|---|
Not applicable | nil | Preliminary investigation orders | section 10 |
Declaration of an investigation area | section 15 | Declaration of significantly contaminated land | section 11 |
Declaration of a remediation site | section 21 | Declaration of significantly contaminated land | section 11 |
Investigation orders | section 17 | Management orders | section 14 |
Remediation orders | section 23 | Management orders | section 14 |
Voluntary investigation proposals | section 19 | Approved voluntary management proposals | section 17 |
Voluntary remediation proposals | section 26 | Approved voluntary management proposals | section 17 |
Maintenance of remediation notice | section 28 | Ongoing maintenance orders | section 28 |
Site audit statement | section 53B | Site audit statement | section 53B |
The record includes copies of the above mentioned notices.
On 1 July 2009 the former terminologies will be taken to be the new corresponding terminology where appropriate. When searching the database for notices issued prior to the commencement of the CLM Act amendments these notices are listed under the former CLM Act section numbers. For example a declaration of a remediation site is listed under notice '21'.
Notification policy
In accordance with section 11(5) of the CLM Act, DECC has prepared a Notification Policy to allow transparency in the declaration process. DECC directly notifies the persons that it suspects to be responsible for the contamination, the land owner, occupier and the local authority, in addition to publishing notifications in the Government Gazette and online via the contaminated land public record. DECC can also adopt additional communication strategies as required to ensure all relevant stakeholders are informed of declarations.
Area number
An area number is a unique number used by DECC to identify a particular area of land that is regulated by DECC under the CLM Act. The same area number links all DECC notices issued under the CLM Act in relation to that area of land. In the past it was also known as a UB number. The UB stood for unhealthy building (land) and was related to the Unhealthy Building Land Act 1990, which has now been repealed. The area number is generally a four-digit number starting with a 3, e.g. 3456.
More about unhealthy building land.
What's not in the record
The record only includes documents that are required to be placed on the record by section 58 of the CLM Act. It does not include notifications under section 60 of the CLM Act.
Under section 60 of the CLM Act, a person whose activities have contaminated land or a landowner whose land has been contaminated are required to notify DECC when they become aware of the contamination. These notifications are not an accurate indicator of DECC's regulatory involvement with contaminated land under the CLM Act as:
Certain personal information that appears on the hard copy of the notices issued by DECC is not displayed on this record because of the requirements of the
NSW Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. The Act prohibits disclosure of the name of an individual who is the occupier, owner or person responsible for contamination of a contaminated site or the address of such an individual, except in certain circumstances.
To obtain this information you must complete a statutory declaration that clearly states the information you require and your intended use of the information, and send it to: Manager Contaminated Sites, Environment Protection and Regulation Group, Department of Environment and Climate Change, PO Box A290, Sydney South, 1232. Access will be determined in accordance with the requirements of the privacy laws.
Updating
The record is updated as notices are issued. Notices will generally appear in the record within a week of the notice being issued.
Further information regarding this public record, and about sites that may be recorded in the Protection of the Environment Operations Act public register is available through the DECC Environment Line or email: contlandmgnt@environment.nsw.gov.au
For information about a particular site you can also apply to the relevant local council for a certificate relating to the land under section 149 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
