What additional resources will be made available to enable local authorities to carry out their regulatory responsibilities under the statu…

A great deal of polluted land has been inherited from past generations when little or no consideration was given to the impact of our actions on the environment. Today's announcement will help to address this legacy.We have allocated £4.5 million capital resources for 2002-03 to help local authorities carry out their statutory responsibilities under the contaminated land regime which came into force in July 2000.The regime provides the best solution to bringing polluted land back into productive use, especially in areas where commercial redevelopment is not likely to bring this about. Its main objective is to provide an improved system for the identification and remediation of contaminated land where the contamination is causing unacceptable risk to human health and the wider environment. By providing a vehicle for cleaning up contaminated land it will also facilitate the re-use of brownfield sites and promote the regeneration of urban areas.The funds will help local authorities to identify and investigate sites, take forward enforcement action and, in cases where they are unable to identify those responsible for the contamination, carry out remediation work at their own hand.Together with the resources we announced in February last year, over the three years 2000-01 to 2002-03 the Executive has made capital allocations totalling £9.7 million available to local authorities for work associated with addressing the problem of contaminated land.The distribution of capital allocations to local authorities is shown in the table. | Allocations for2002-03(£000)
Aberdeen City | 65
Aberdeenshire | 68
Angus | 92
Argyll and Bute | 72
Clackmannanshire | 45
Dumfries and Galloway | 155
Dundee City | 142
East Ayrshire | 181
East Dunbartonshire | 45
East Lothian | 57
East Renfrewshire | 45
Edinburgh (City of) | 181
Eilean Siar | 72
Falkirk | 114
Fife | 266
Glasgow City | 513
Highland | 297
Inverclyde | 56
Midlothian | 125
Moray | 45
North Ayrshire | 181
North Lanarkshire | 580
Orkney Islands | 45 |