Damien Chappell provides a brief overview of how Environment Protection regulations were developed, especially in the context of contaminated land in Victoria. He uses the example of a residential development in Ardeer which began prior to contaminated land regulations. The development proceeded with no contaminated land assessment and had to be abandoned when the soil was found to be highly contaminated. The clean up of site cost several million dollars and took over 10 years.
As a result, the requirement for contaminated land assessment prior to the development of land was integrated into Environment Protection and Planning frameworks.