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:: ECO home :: Environmental Management ::
Legislation Compliance
Objectives
- Comply with environmental legislation and prevent pollution
A Brief Introduction
There is a great deal of legislation which relates to an organisation’s impact on the environment. The amount of legislation is increasing at a steady rate as a direct result of European Community initiatives.
The Council is not isolated from the increasing legislation and must ensure appropriate staff are aware of the legislative and regulatory requirements covering their area of interest and activity.
The Eco Team has a full suite of up to date legislation and can assist with providing details on the potential applicability as it relates to a County Council premise.
Legislation can be summarised in a number of applicable areas including: Integrated Pollution Control; Air Quality; Inland Water Quality and Sewerage; Waste Management; Contaminated Land; Noise and Statutory Nuisance; Hazardous Substances; Nature Conservation; General Environmental Legislation.
We intend to add further details during the construction of the Intranet site, however, would draw attention to the following key items of environmental legislation where they relate to potential County Council premises.
The main area of applicability relates to our waste streams (see Waste pages for further information). The applicable legislation being the Control of Pollution Act 1974, the Environment Act 1995 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Noise and statutory nuisance controls are enforced by the Borough Councils are are covered by the Control of Pollution Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990 and Environment Act 1995 amongst others.
The Water Resources Act 1991, covers protection of water against pollution and other water resource management. It is an offence to discharge trade effluent or other poisonous or polluting material or solid waste into a controlled water unless a discharge consent has been obtained from the Environment Agency. A number of County premises have their own treatment works on site and hence a number of water pollution control requirements apply.
There is close integration with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 given that risks to health and safety also represent risks to the environment (e.g. spillage's of substances may contaminated land or effect water courses within a County Council premise).
Other broad environmental legislation is also applicable to the Council including the Environmental Information Regulations 1992 (requiring the disclosure of any information held on the environment by a local authority to be made available upon request). The Energy Information (Refrigerators and Freezers) Regulations 1994 relate to the labelling and information for retailers which inform purchase decisions (see Purchasing pages for further information).
Town and Country Planning legislation applies to all Council premises during new build or extensions to properties. Planning Controls are operated mainly through the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and ensure that size, design, location and control of Council operations are considered to avoid or minimise the adverse effects on the use of land and amenity.
For further information on the Planning implications of County Development contact Margaret Summner in Environmental Planning, Commerce House, Hunter Street, Chester, Cheshire, CH1 2QP.
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