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2 What are the main issues?

Submitters and workshop participants identified a wide range of interrelated issues that were considered barriers to effectively managing contaminated land. The full range of issues raised is described in the Report on Submissions.

The Ministry has identified what it considers to be the 10 main issues. To highlight the similarities and connections between these issues, they have been grouped into three main categories: functional and legislative issues, technical issues, and capacity and capability issues.

2.1 Functional and legislative issues

These issues relate to who does what, who is liable for contaminated land, and how contaminated land is defined. Clarity on these issues is important to enable councils to consistently and effectively manage the effects of contaminated land. The main functional and legislative issues are as follows:

  • Roles and responsibilities - the main agencies are uncertain how they should work together, and what their roles should be.

  • Resource Management Act (RMA) definitions and controls - practitioners have differing understandings of what contaminated land is. Council planning and regulatory controls are also inconsistent.

  • Liability - there is uncertainty over who is responsible for cleaning up historical contamination because there is no clear liability regime for historical contamination (ie, contamination that was caused prior to the enactment of the RMA in 1991).

2.2 Technical issues

These are diverse, but are generally associated with the non-regulatory tools (eg, methods, systems, guidelines and information) practitioners use to help them in their roles and functions. These tools serve an important role in ensuring that best practice is shared and national consistency is promoted. The main technical issues are as follows:

  • Identifying land and gathering information - councils face difficulties identifying contaminated land and obtaining information on land.

  • Managing information - databases or registers are often inconsistent between regional councils and district/city councils, and in some cases are absent.

  • Use of guidelines - there is inconsistent and variable use by practitioners of contaminated land guidelines.

  • Remediation and disposal - limited information on techniques to remediate sites, the high cost of remediation, and a preference by industry and developers for remediation by offsite disposal were seen by submitters as the main barriers to the remediation of land.

  • Diffuse sources - there is often a lack of understanding about soil contaminants from common urban and rural practices (ie, soil contamination from common contaminants used in cities and towns, and in farming and horticultural practices).

  • Ecosystem guidance - guidance is needed on the effects of soil contaminants on terrestrial ecosystems.

2.3 Capability and capacity issues

These issues relate to the scarcity of resources and expertise that are used in managing contaminated land by local government, industry and consultancies. They directly affect the quality of outcomes and the degree to which the risks of contaminated land are addressed.

The overlapping and interconnected nature of the main issues is represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The main issues for managing contaminated land

See figure at its full size (including text description).

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