Local planning authorities are extremely cautious about their Green Belt areas and if there is brownfield or greenfield land available that could potentially fulfil the development requirements, they will not grant permission to build on the Green Belt.

greenfield site in British English (ˈɡriːnfiːld saɪt) noun. a site located in a rural area which has not previously been built on.

What is the difference between brownfield and greenfield? Put simply, brownfield land is a site that has been previously built on, which is why this is usually located in an urban area. Greenfield land is a site that hasn’t been built on – usually in a rural or countryside area.

A residential housing development at Priors Park, Tewkesbury, Gloucester. Are sites which have not previously been built on. This includes the greenbelt land around cities.

Brownfield redevelopment can be cheaper because vital infrastructure (drainage, electricity, roads, transport networks etc.) already exists. Using disused urban land leaves green, rural areas intact.

People living near brownfield sites are significantly more likely to suffer from poor health than those living in areas with little or no brownfield land, according to new geographical research.

Most brownfields have physical health hazards, such as uncovered holes, unsafe structures, and sharp objects. Past industrial activities can leave behind chemical contamination or drums of chemical wastes. When people enter these properties there is a chance that they may be injured or exposed to toxic chemicals.

Brownfields can also directly impact public and environmental health due to contamination that can pollute soil, air, and water resources on- and off-site. People might be exposed to these hazards by walking on the site, by wind carrying contamination off of the site, or by drinking groundwater affected by the site.

Brownfield properties can be large (for example, manufacturing sites and industrial plants) or small (abandoned dry cleaners, gas stations), and they are not necessarily contaminated. To be labeled a Brownfield, the site must only be suspected of contamination.

Definition of a Brownfield Site With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term “brownfield site” means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Mothballed brownfields are properties that the owners are not willing to transfer or put to productive reuse. Brownfield status is a legal designation which places restrictions, conditions or incentives on redevelopment and use on the site.

Creating or adding a barrier between the surface and contaminants by using a geotextile, a layer of clean soil or both. Capping protects areas of cleanup, reduces exposures and prevents the spread of contamination. On site or ‘In-situ’ treatment.

Although the vast majority of these so-called “brownfields” are privately owned commercial and industrial properties, cleanup costs are often borne partially or wholly by the public sector. Recent estimates of cleanup activities by the EPA at 36 of these sites alone will cost more than $4 billion.

Most people would agree that broadly speaking, building on a brownfield site is better than building on a greenfield site. A brownfield site refers to previously developed land, which is or was occupied by a permanent structure. A greenfield site refers to ANY land that hasn’t been previously developed.

The costs of such a program are not trivial; according to the EPA, it costs an estimated average of $602,000 to clean up a brownfield, and there are 450,000 such sites nationwide, based on data from the U.S. General Accountability Office.

EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.

Superfund is the common name given to the law called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA. Superfund is also the trust fund set up by Congress to handle emergency and hazardous waste sites needing long-term cleanup.

The difference between the two is that superfunds are EPA-involved and are sites on the NPL, the nation’s worst hazard sites. Brownfields are usually abandoned industrial and commercial facilities, and cleanup does not involve the EPA.

town of Picher

There are two classifications for contaminated sites from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are “Superfund” and “Brownfield”. …