[CPEO-BIF] European Union report on Brownfields

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

EUROPEAN COURT OF AUDITORS
PRESS RELEASE
ECA/13/11
For immediate release
Luxembourg, 18 April 2013

"Brownfield" sites: better planning needed if clean-ups are to work,  
say EU Auditors

A new report from the European Court of Auditors, the EU spending  
watchdog, calls on the European
Commission to improve the running of regeneration projects on so- 
called “brownfield” sites – former
industrial and military areas which are often derelict and contaminated.

The Auditors found that results could have been achieved at a reduced  
cost to national and EU budgets because the
need for public funding was not always established and rules  
governing EU funded regeneration projects do not
sufficiently allow public money to be clawed back if projects  
generate more revenue than expected.  They also found
that the ‘polluter pays’ principle has not been fully applied so that  
national and EU funds have borne part of the cost of
environmental clean-ups.

The number of brownfield sites in Europe is estimated to range from a  
few hundred in small Member States to a few
hundred thousand in larger Member States with a rich industrial past.  
ERDF and Cohesion funds have co-financed
regeneration projects to promote the re-use of these sites as well as  
to protect human health and the environment and
mitigate urban sprawl.

While most projects successfully transform the sites, say the  
Auditors, in many cases the redeveloped land and
buildings is not being used as planned and job creation has been  
lower than expected. This was in part because not
enough attention was paid to the need for sound market analysis but  
also because of the economic downturn.

...

For the entire release, see
http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/22044771.PDF

To download the 1.4 MB report, go to
http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/22042779.PDF

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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