Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Soil is highlighted as a neglected aspect of the environment in the latest report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.

Speaking today at the publication of the report on 'Sustainable Use of Soil', the Chairman of the Royal Commission, Sir John Houghton, said:

'Soil, air and water are the three essentials for life on land. Up to now environmental policies have often taken soil for granted. We believe the government should draw up and put into effect clear policies to protect this important resource.'

The report emphasises the pressures on soils in the UK as a result of:

the great intensification of agriculture during this century continuing demand for land for building, particularly in areas with fertile soils extraction of peat and minerals increasing amounts of sewage sludge (for which disposal at sea will be banned after 1998) large quantities of other wastes spread onto land or buried in the ground contamination from industry pollutants reaching soils from the atmosphere.

Knowledge and understanding about soils is still very incomplete. The report shows how they are both created and removed by long-term natural processes, and form complex systems in dynamic equilibrium. While soils can adapt to some of the effects of human activities, we do not know the limits to their resilience, which may depend on the diversity of micro-organisms present. The report recommends a national scheme to monitor soil quality.

Globally, the adequacy of soil resources to feed a rapidly growing population is a vital issue. The UK has relatively fertile soils and, in contrast to many other countries, the Royal Commission has not found that erosion of arable land is a major problem. In future the UK might have to become more self-sufficient in food production, or even a net exporter of food.

The report's central recommendations are that:

the government should draw up and implement a soil protection policy for the UK which takes full account of long-term environmental considerations the Environment Agencies which start to operate in April (one for England and Wales and one for Scotland) must take a genuinely integrated view of the environment and give proper attention to safeguarding and remediating soil.

The Royal Commission sets out five principles to form the basis of soil protection policy:

Soils must be conserved as an essential part of life-support systems Soil should be accorded the same priority in environmental protection as air or water An integrated approach to environmental management must include management of land Contaminated sites should, wherever practicable, be recovered for beneficial use Further contamination of soils should be avoided.

The Royal Commission believes that integrated environmental management involves giving greater protection to the most productive soils and to rare ecosystems, severely restricting development on green-field sites, and speeding up the recycling of previously developed land in order to reduce the pressures on green-field sites. It wants the Department of the Environment to consider how planning policies can be modified to give greater weight to these objectives. To stimulate the market in recycled land, the Royal Commission wants government agencies to promote land banks of development sites which have been treated to remove contamination. And once a site has been cleaned up to the standard demanded by the local authority and the Environment Agency, it wants owners of land to be absolved from further liability.

The report recommends a review of controls over the spreading of wastes on land to ensure consistency between different types of wastes. To avoid risks of infection, the use of untreated sewage sludge on agricultural land should be phased out. Government and industry should take steps to reduce the amounts of heavy metals and persistent organic compounds in sewage sludge. The planned reduction by 2005 in the proportion of waste landfilled (announced by the government before Christmas) should be continued and accelerated after that date.

After reviewing the effects of intensive agriculture, the Royal Commission concludes that wise stewardship of soil is almost always in the direct interests of farmers. But to exercise stewardship they need to be adequately informed. The report recommends that free visits to advise farmers on pollution prevention and conservation should continue, and should be extended to cover more sustainable use of soils. It also recommends changes in rules under the European Common Agricultural Policy to remove incentives to use soils unsustainably.

In all the report makes 91 recommendations covering all aspects of soil use. These will now be considered by the government, which will publish a formal response in due course.

Additional Information

The Royal Commission invited evidence for its study of soil in December 1993. It has received written and oral evidence from many bodies and individuals, including government Departments, industry organisations and academics. Visits were made to a large number of sites in the UK and to Denmark and Germany, and some special studies commissioned from outside experts.

Although this is a report about the UK's soils, it begins by summarising the reasons for concern about the adequacy of soil resources globally. It then analyses the factors affecting UK soils, both as a result of land use and through interactions with water and the atmosphere. The core of the report is an examination of five key policy areas the Royal Commission has identified: the deliberate removal of soil in the course of extracting peat and other minerals, the use of soils for farming and forestry, the spreading of sewage sludge and other wastes onto soil, the landfilling of wastes, and the contamination of soils from past and present industrial operations. The final part of the report makes the case for an integrated approach to soil, both at the level of scientific study and in terms of articulating and implementing policies. It sets out the roles which central government, the new Environment Agencies, local authorities, farmers, landowners, financial institutions, non-profit making trusts and development agencies should play in implementing a soil protection policy for the UK.

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