Planning Policy Wales - Brecon Beacons National Park

13.7.5 When planning permission is granted, a notice should be issued to inform the applicant that
the responsibility and subsequent liability for safe development and secure occupancy of the site
rests with the developer and/or landowner. It should also advise the applicant that, although the
local planning authority has used its best endeavours to determine the application on the basis of
the information available to it, this does not mean that the land is free from contamination 11 .
13.8 Development plans and unstable land
13.8.1 Land instability must be considered by local planning authorities in preparation of
development plans to ensure that:
• new development is not undertaken without an understanding of the risks, including those
associated with subsidence, landslips or rock falls;
• development does not take place without appropriate precautions;
• development is not allowed if expensive engineering projects, which have implications for the
public purse, will be required to prevent erosion, or in the case of receding cliffs, if the site is
likely to be affected by loss of land to the sea during the lifetime of the development, possibly
contributing to pollution at a later date (see 5.6 to 5.8); and
• unstable land is restored to safeguard investment and, where possible, returned to productive use.
13.8.2 Local planning authorities should therefore take into account in plan preparation the nature,
scale and extent of ground instability which may pose direct risks to life and health, buildings
and structures, or present indirect hazards associated with ground movement such as the possible
migration of landfill or mine gas.
13.8.3 Where appropriate, development plans should indicate the general location of known areas
of unstable ground. Policies for these areas must be accompanied by the warning that they have
been defined on the basis of the best information available to the planning authority, that they are
not necessarily exhaustive, and that responsibility for determining the extent and effects of such
constraints remains that of the developer. Proposals for areas of land instability should take due
account of physical constraints and may recommend action on land reclamation or other remedial
action to enable beneficial use of unstable land.
13.8.4 Plans may indicate that the local planning authority will need to be satisfied that a site is
stable or that any actual or potential instability can reasonably be overcome.
13.9 Development control and unstable land
13.9.1 Planning decisions need to take into account:
• the potential hazard that instability could create to the development itself, to its occupants and to
the local environment; and
• the results of a specialist investigation and assessment by the developer to determine the stability
of the ground and to identify any remedial measures required to deal with any instability.
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Planning Policy Wales Edition 3 - July 2010 - Chapter 13 Minimising and Managing Environmental
Risks and Pollution