FOI release

Contaminated Land Register

Case reference EIR2026/00742

Received 22 July 2026

Published 19 August 2026

Last amended 19 August 2026

Request

Further information on your contaminated land register (Following Railway tracks from South Oxford (Southern Bypass Road Bridge) to Wolvercote (Peartree Roundabout). I reviewed the register on your website but it appeared empty so wanted to double check incase that register was not up to date (see attached)

Response

Oxford City Council (OCC) has considered your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), rather than the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), because the requested information concerns the state of land and measures relating to land within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the EIR.

OCC has interpreted your request as seeking confirmation that its statutory Contaminated Land Register is current and whether it contains any entry relating to the railway corridor described in your request.

In accordance with regulation 5(1) of the EIR, OCC confirms that its statutory Contaminated Land Register was up to date at the date of your request. The register contained no entries. Consequently, no land within OCC’s administrative area, including land along the route described in your request, was entered on the statutory register.

The register is maintained under section 78R of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990) and the Contaminated Land (England) Regulations 2006. It is not a register of every site that may have a potentially contaminative historical use or where contamination may be present. It records prescribed particulars concerning land that has been formally determined as “contaminated land” under Part 2A of the EPA 1990 and any associated statutory action.

The absence of an entry therefore means that no land has been formally determined under Part 2A in circumstances requiring an entry on the statutory register. It should not be interpreted as confirmation that no land within Oxford has ever had a potentially contaminative use, that contamination could not be present, or that OCC holds no other land-quality or planning information. In particular, the statutory register does not include sites where contamination has been addressed through the planning and development process.

OCC’s current published position is available on its Land Quality in Oxford webpage.

No information has been withheld and no EIR exception has been applied.

If you disagree with any part of the response to your request, you are entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s) made. You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either email monitoringofficer@oxford.gov.uk – or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX. After the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Officer

Documents

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