CHANGES have been announced to make it easier for companies to develop brownfield sites.

The Environment Agency, working with Defra and the Cabinet Office, has announced changes to mobile plant licensing, to take effect in October.

They will have an effect on companies bringing brownfield sites in the North-East and North Yorkshire back into use.

Redevelopers or contractors using mobile treatment equipment to clean up contaminated land need a licence from the Environment Agency.

Currently, if redevelopers or contractors want to operate a mobile plant at two sites at the same time, they need two licences. The new rules mean they will only need one licence, no matter how many sites they operate on.

Liz Parkes, Environment Agency's head of waste regulation, said: "Due to increasing housing demand, and the drive to bring brownfield sites into use, there is inevitably an increasing need for industry to re-develop brownfield land.

"Although we need to ensure that any redevelopment has the smallest possible impact on the environment, we also want to make sure that in doing so we are not making things unnecessarily difficult for industry. These changes will go a long way to achieving this."

She said companies also needed to work towards treating and reusing brownfield soil rather than simply sending it to landfill, adding that, as well as helping the environment, it could also save them money.

More details are available at http://www.environment-agency. gov.uk/business

Published: 26/04/2005