In June 2007 the UK House of Lords has held that the contaminated land regime in the UK does not impose liability on statutory successors to companies whose gasworks 
caused contamination.       
       
The case centred on a site in Yorkshire which had been used as a coal gasworks by 'Bawtry and District Gas Company' and its successor bodies since 1915.  The site 
ceased operations shortly after nationalisation in 1948, and was sold to a private developer for housing by the East Midlands Gas Board in 1965, some 20 years 
before the privatisation of the UK gas industry.  
  
The decison in this case does not necessarily imply that all statutory successor bodies are relived from liability under the contaminated land regime, which 
will depend on the particular property transfer deals.  
      
For a detailed review of this case visit: http://www.endsreport.co.uk and search its archives for 'liability ruling favours national grid'