The French approach to contaminated land management: Legal framework and reclamation of former industrial sites in urban areas

Despite two centuries of industrial activities, contaminated land issues have raised concern over the last 20–25 years only. A dedicated contaminated land policy related to Integration Prevention and Pollution Control industries has been developed in France over the last 15 years. It is based on two main concepts: a risk management driven approach, which goes beyond the assessment of the intrinsic level of pollution, and land-use (of the site and its surrounding) risk based management. Feedback studies on the management of many French and foreign polluted sites showed that risks from contaminated sites were not necessarily associated with the presence of pollutants in the soil, but were mostly caused by the hazardous character of contaminants (intrinsic toxicity, mobility, bioaccumulation, persistence) or caused by changes in human activities which affected the environment or exposed new populations to contamination. In relation to regeneration, and in the context of fast urban sprawl (since the mid-1950s, European cities have expanded by 78 per cent and population has grown by 33 per cent) and increasing pressure on the land market, those contaminated sites located mainly in urban areas can be seen as good opportunities, when abandoned, for satisfying some of the new land demands. It is therefore essential to take all necessary precautions to minimise risks for future users when redeveloping brownfields, and special care is necessary when reclaiming and redeveloping contaminated sites, especially in urban areas. This has resulted in the emergence of laws, methodological guidance documents for contaminated site management and new national tools of management. These tools, like those existing in other European countries, are based on risk assessment and management approaches. The case study of the Ferronneries du Midi (Toulouse, south of France) will illustrate how the remediation of contaminated soils has been integrated into redevelopment projects.