The Contaminated Land Capital Grant Programme has been reduced by 64% compared to the 2010/11 budget with a total of just £4.35 million now available under the scheme for bids made in 2011/2012.

The initial budget last year was £17.5 million for local authorities with an additional £2.439 million available for the Environment Agency; however this was subject to an in-year reduction of around 40% to £10 million for local authorities and £1.939 million for the Environment Agency meaning £11.939 million was available overall. This amounts to a total reduction of over 78% in under 12 months.

Under the programme local authorities (including county councils, statutory joint waste disposal authorities and National Parks Authorities) can apply for funding towards intrusive investigation of potentially contaminated land and remediation of contaminated sites.

There will only be one bidding window this year and the £4.35 million is to be used for both local authority regulated sites and those dealt with by the Environment Agency.

The budget last year was over-subscribed meaning there were more qualifying bids than could be funded. It is therefore anticipated that the allocated budget will fall far short of need. Bids received before 27th May 2011 will be assessed by the Environment Agency against a risk prioritisation tool so that sites considered to present the greatest risk nationally will be more likely to secure funding.

In December 2010 Welsh local authorities learnt that there would be no funding available under the programme in 2011/2012.