The Public Health and Housing Team, part of  Derbyshire Dales District Council's Environmental Health and Housing Section, deals with a wide range of pollution related issues and enquiries:

Air Quality

We produce regular reports on the quality of air in Derbyshire Dales.  In order to help us to do this we carry out routine monitoring throughout the District for a number of common air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, lead and dust.  Please view our Air Pollution pages for more information, and for copies of the reports and summaries of our monitoring.

Pollution Prevention and Control

Certain types of industrial and agricultural processed have been designated as requiring permits to operate due to their potential to give rise to pollution.  Some processes are permitted by the Environment Agency and some are permitted by the Council.

Officers from our Team are responsible for drawing up the permits and for setting permit conditions to ensure that the potential to pollute is properly managed and controlled.  Advice and assistance is offered to businesses to help them to comply with the legislation.

Contaminated Land

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives us reponsibility to deal with contaminated land issues.  To help us to do this we have adopted a Contaminated Land Strategy, which sets out the most likely sources of contamination and assists us in setting our priorities.

We also advise our Planning colleagues and developers in ensuring that "brownfield development" is undertaken in such a way that contaminated land does not become a problem.

Please see our Contaminated Land webpages for more information.

Statutory Nuisance

We investigate complaints of statutory nuisance, such as noise, smoke, dust and odours.   These complaints may arise from industrial, commercial or residential premises.  The most common complaints we receive are about noise and for further information on this please view our noise page.

Hazardous Waste

We can help to respond to incidents of hazardous waste dumping or spillage.  As a Team we may be able to initiate legal action against people or companies causing these problems and we can also help to facilitate the removal of dumped material.

Asbestos

We can offer advice on all aspects of exposure to and the removal of asbestos from buildings etc.  We can also help to identify suitable contractors for sampling and removal of materials containing asbestos.

Water Sampling

We carry out routine water sampling in the many properties in Derbyshire Dales served by private water supplies such as springs and wells.  Samples are analysed for bacterial contamination, and chemical parameters such as heavy metals.  A charge is made for this service.

Licensing

We act as a "Responsible Authority" for applications under the Licensing Act 2003 and are consulted on all applications for Premises Licences.  Advice is given to applicants, licence holders, and to the Council's Licensing Team and Sub-Committee to ensure that proposals do not result in nuisance being caused to neighbours.

Planning

To prevent foreseeable pollution problems the Team offers specialist advice to the Council's Planning Services Section on current planning applications.  Issues that we might advice on include land contamination, noise potential and air quality implications.

For more information about any of these areas please see our specific WebPages or contact us at:

Environmental Health and Housing Section
Community Services Department
Town Hall
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3NN

Tel: 01629 761212
Fax: 01629 761165
Email: envhealth@derbyshiredales.gov.uk