Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Environment definition

What does Environment mean? In legal practice, environment refers to the natural media and the living systems potentially affected by a project, operation or emission. UK environmental legislation commonly defines it as including air, water and land, and any living organisms (including humans) and ecosystems supported by those media. Similar formulations are used across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and in Irish environmental legislation; exact wording varies by statute and context, but usage is broadly consistent. Where a regime provides a definition, courts apply that text; where it does not, the term carries its ordinary meaning. The concept sets the scope of regulatory...

Environmental liabilities in insolvency: contaminated land, environmental permits, nuisance claims and insolvency practitioners’ personal exposure—due diligence, regulator engagement, permit transfers and disclaimer strategies

Published by a LexisNexis Restructuring & Insolvency expert

Practice notes

R&I spotlight on environmental law

What are the main laws and regulations governing this area?

There are three principal sources of environmental law that an insolvency practitioner (IP) should understand and which may give rise to personal liability for the IP. These are:

contaminated land legislation (the Contaminated Land Regime)
other regulatory regimes (expanded below)
third party civil claims

Contaminated Land Regime

Local authorities have obligations under Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990) to:

inspect their areas for contamination
identify land as contaminated
require clean-up where appropriate

Where contaminated land is determined, the initial duty to remediate falls on Class A persons. These include:

the original or later polluter—Class A ‘causers’
anyone who knowingly allows contamination—Class A ‘knowing permitters’ (ie a person aware of contamination, able to act, but failing to do so—for example, an IP who knows oil drums stored on a property are leaking into the ground and does not take steps to deal with the issue)

If no Class A persons can be found...

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Emma Sadler

Addleshaw Goddard

Emma is a Managing Associate in the Business Support and Restructuring team dealing with a wide variety of insolvency and restructuring matters but with a particular emphasis on corporate restructurings. Emma also has experience with private equity and other corporate finance matters, in respect of transactions involving solvent and insolvent parties. Her recent experience includes: Acting for Endless LLP and Rcapital Partners LLP on both turnaround and wholly solvent acquisitions Acting for the administrators and liquidators of UK Coal in the restructure and eventual closure of its operations Acting for Sahaviriya Steel Industries UK Limited in the lead up to the eventual closure of its operations Acting for RBS Invoice Finance Limited on the recovery of debts from international debtors ...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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