Written Evidence submitted by CL:AIRE (SH0072)

Organisation Introduction

CL:AIRE is a UK charity established since 1999, committed to providing services for all those involved in sustainable land reuse. It develops training resources and disseminates information on the cutting-edge of best practice and innovation.

There are three key areas of activity for CL:AIRE:

1. Improving Efficiency & Raising Standards

CL:AIRE works with industry, through its membership to identify, common problems in the field of sustainable land management. Using its extensive experience of developing industry-led initiatives such as the Definition of Waste Code of Practice (DoW CoP), it works with highly respected experts and government to develop solutions which are tested and critiqued by our Members’ to ensure they are fit for purpose.

CL:AIRE has a strong track record of carrying out industry relevant research projects, the findings of which are often used for the benefit of industry or fed into our initiatives.

CL:AIRE provides technical secretariat services for several industry wide programmes such as the National Brownfield Forum, the National Quality Mark Scheme and Sustainable Remediation Forum.

2. Supporting its Members’

CL:AIRE has two types of Members: Supporters and Principal Members and CL:AIRE supports its members in a range of ways. We have liaised with these members in constructing this submission of evidence.

Our regular eAlerts keep them up to date with industry relevant news and events but also on the development of our industry initiatives.

Our Principal Members are given the opportunity to become directly involved in our industry-led initiatives by joining our working groups. Bringing the industry together is a core part of our membership scheme and we achieve this through regular informal networking events but also by using online social media discussion groups.

We help promote the good work and success of our members through these channels and we provide a webinar platform for members who have interesting projects or news they wish to share with the CL:AIRE Network.

CL:AIRE also has many University Members and works with them to raise the profile of the industry to the next generation of experts.

3. Sharing Knowledge & Developing People

Since the beginning, CL:AIRE has always had a focus on sharing knowledge throughout industry. We continue to perform this role in several ways including the development of the online Water & Land Library (WALL) which has become the primary and ever-growing location for relevant industry guidance and supporting materials.

CL:AIRE runs traditional classroom and online training events and courses. We develop guidance documents and materials to benchmark industry standards. We work with a number of international organisations to increase the reach of our outputs and the CL:AIRE network.

Evidence Submission

How can the Government measure progress towards its goal of making all soils sustainably managed by 2030? What are the challenges in gathering data to measure soil health and how can these barriers be overcome?

• Include soil targets / requirements under the planning regime.
• Measurement could be achieved by mandatory (and reliable) verification of materials management plans (MMPs) and/or waste management plans completed as part of the development process. This should include reporting total quantities of topsoil and subsoil that are either a) disposed off site to landfill, b) re-used sustainably on-site/off-site or, c) re-used less sustainably on/off-site (e.g. buried and compacted at depth).
• Support the use of  SURF-UK indicators of soil health (www.claire.co.uk/surfuk). Encourage the reporting of benefits of remediation more widely.
• Develop a national freely accessible topsoil testing register based on reliable and reproducible measures of soil health collating construction industry data.
• Funding for a long-term monitoring programme with metrics agreed across all sectors - land use changes across sector boundaries and measuring the same things will help drive positive change in relation to soil health. The results of this would better inform current Best and Most Valuable [BMV] land allocations. These tests should consider new key indicators that demonstrate quality with a focus on microbial life to promote Biodiversity Net Gain [BNG] and not just chemical and nutrient properties.

Do current regulations ensure that all landowners/land managers maintain and/or improve soil health? If not, how should they be improved?

• Not adequately.
• Make soil management plans a formal requirement under planning conditions for development. These should include identification of individuals responsible for the implementation and that they have the right skills to supervise their implementation. This should include requirement for verification to prove works have been undertaken correctly. This would also then require support for training and education to build the competency and skill set of those involved in these works.
• Devise a set of soil health targets similar to Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and link these into BNG, carbon and environmental targets. Targets could be either % improvement or set concentrations for various types of soil requirement – pastureland, peatland, nutrient poor soils for biodiversity etc but not the topsoil specification etc.
• Support sustainable reuse especially where soils are managed by a Soils Framework such as the Definition of Waste: Development Industry Code of Practice (DoWCoP). Ensure that made ground is not automatically pushed towards a waste permit.
• Invest in the resource potential of regulators so they can support quickly the discussions on permits / DoWCoP to enable quick turnaround so material can be legally re-used.
• Land contamination is risk based and soil health is rarely considered as a receptor in itself. Therefore we need to encourage recognition of soil as a receptor in appropriate circumstances on a site-specific basis.

Will the standards under Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) have sufficient ambition and flexibility to restore soils across different types of agricultural land? What are the threats and opportunities for soil health as ELMs are introduced?

• CL:AIRE is not able to comment on agricultural issues. However, the following more general point is offered. Soils are complex and need site-specific assessment prior to any works commencing regarding any proposals to interact with them. The site specifics always need to be understood.
• ELMs proposals are considered most likely to be successful where they have a site specific soils assessment requirement at design stage.
• Soil restoration is an activity beyond agriculture. Whilst development land represents a much smaller area than agriculture, as pointed out by the recent Soils in Planning and Construction Task Force document, it is as important due to its proximity to people. It is also land which is currently subject to the greatest level of use and the soil degradation is often greatest in these areas.
• ELMs should go beyond just agricultural land and should link in with existing targets on BNG, carbon, etc.

What changes do we need to see in the wider food and agriculture sector to encourage better soil management and how can the Government support this transition?

• CL:AIRE's remit is not in agriculture so it is not appropriate for it to comment on this question.

What does the UK Government need to do to tackle other stressors on soil health such as soil contamination?

• Support the use of the National Quality Mark Scheme system (www.claire.co.uk/nqms) for all land contamination reports.
• Better soils framework for protection, recovery and re-use of soils.
• Provide an efficient system for industry to pay for and consult, where required, with EHO and the EA/NRW/SEPA on brownfield sites and also ensure that regulators have the time and resource to support effectively.
• Hypothecate money raised from this to further support the consultation process.
• Ensure the revised Defra Construction Code of Practice for the Sustainable Use of Soil on Construction Sites becomes a living initiative and remains up to date.
• Give soils the same legal status and protection as air and water. Healthy soil is as important as air and water quality and biodiversity to our sustainable future.
• Introduce a formal requirement for monitoring - soils are very rarely monitored post-construction - against a clear pre-construction baseline.
• Introduce recovery permit criteria to enable quarry backfill with suitable inert materials where required by planning. Alternatively use quarries as biodiversity net gain sites with layered restoration levels by amended original planning permission conditions.

February 2023