Review of Sustainable Brownfield Revitalisation Approaches.pdf

Torfaen County Borough Council
A Review of Sustainable Brownfield Revitalisation Approaches
• The National Environmental Policy Plan 3,
• The plan ’Space for the regions’; and
• The ‘Second Transport structure plan',
5.2.4 These plans are at the national level. They provide the basis for further plans
at the provincial and municipal level and give rise to subsidies and a number of
financial schemes. More information is given in a document prepared by the
Dutch ministry for an OECD study on policies for urban Brownfield sites.
5.3 Legal Framework
5.3.1 The principal Dutch legal regulations are:
• The Urban and Rural Regeneration Act 1985;
• The Soil Protection Act 1987 extended with a soil clean up paragraph in
1994;
• The Law on Housing;
• The Spatial Planning Act and
• The Environmental Protection Act.
5.3.2 The Netherlands formally launched its urban approach with the Urban and
Rural Regeneration Act in 1985. The policy, which originated mainly from the
housing and economic departments, was aimed at urban renewal. The aim
was to bring about the physical improvement of the built environment.
Formally its purpose was to eliminate the quality deficits of the residential,
working, production and living environments in area built before 1970. 1970.
During the 1990’s this policy was widened into one of urban regeneration.
5.3.3 The 1987 Soil Protection Act (SPA) lays down the statutory requirements for
the clean-up of contaminated land. This Act established and defined a duty of
care for the soil, imposing a statutory clean-up requirement for contamination
resulting from certain industrial activities. The party responsible for causing the
contamination is liable for the costs of clean-up, in accordance with the polluter
pays principle. In 1994 further regulations were drawn up for cases of
contaminated soil. The regulations make a clear distinction between cases
where remediation is conducted by the party concerned, and where the
authorities have the responsibility.
5.3.4 The Dutch central government reviewed its soil contamination policy (the
“BEVER” project) in 1997/1998 with the aim to revise it to be integrated,
decentralised and offer a larger role to the private sector. This change of
policy is intended to increase both the social and environmental benefits, the
intention being that the future remediation of contaminated land will be adapted
to the future land-use. This will allow a more environmentally sound clean-upprocess,
while minimising the costs. In addition, the government intends to
take financial, legal and fiscal measures to make it more attractive for the
private sector to invest in the remediation of contaminated land.
5.3.5 Specific initiatives include the Belstato urban renewal fund (approximately 363
million Euro per year available over the period 1990-2005); the Intrafunds of
the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, and the
VINEX covenants (approximately 408 million Euro budgeted for 1995-2005 for
contaminated land). In total a sum of 34 million Euro was available over the
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