Supporting the 10th
Anniversary of the
Yorkshire Contaminated
Land Forum

It is no surprise, therefore, that Zoe Cooper, business development director, Infrastructure & Energy, SOCOTEC has also been the treasurer of Yorkshire Contaminated Land Forum (YCLF) for ten years.

Having celebrated the tenth anniversary of the YCLF last month, Zoe tells us about the importance of the YCLF, as well as the benefit it has on the environment and the relating sectors and professions.

It was back in 2007 that we established the YCLF to give Yorkshire a voice in the industry. A lot of key decisions about contaminated land and the environment were being made in London at the time, and it was important that all geographical areas were able to influence these decisions.

Now, ten years on, there are a number of Contaminated Land Forums that have started up across the country – and through ten years of hard work, YCLF has achieved an enviable reputation nationally which has been acknowledged by many organisations including CL:AIRE, Brownfield Briefing, Contaminated Land Bulletin and the National Land Forum.

The YCLF is a small steering group of professionals, but we have the interest, involvement and expertise to fully support land quality. We aim to enhance communications, enable joint professional development and expand the network of professional contacts. All of this is really important in the joint effort to improve the management of land quality – not just in Yorkshire, but nationwide.

The purpose of YCLF is to share expertise – which is what SOCOTEC do on a daily basis. SOCOTEC support the Forum, having previously presented on coal tar analysis at one of our YCLF events, as well as demonstrating their expertise in contaminated land services. We’re all trying to achieve the same goal!

This year, managing director for Infrastructure & Energy services, Jim Murphy, also attended the recent charity dinner.

The Charity Dinner, which took place on 9 November at the Met Hotel in Leeds, was held in celebration of YCLF’s tenth anniversary. We had over 110 attendees as part of the celebration; a raffle – which SOCOTEC supported – raised over £1,500 for two nominated charities:

• Ravencliffe High School and College caters for young people with a range of learning and physical disabilities. Fundraising activities help to support Ravenscliffe in accommodating the rising number of students attending their school that have special educational needs.
• Martin House is a children’s hospice that provides support and care for families local to Leeds that have a child or young person with a life limiting illness. With over 400 families and over 150 bereaved families in their support system, they are a very worthy charity.

Over the years, YCLF has held over 31 events and delivered over 128 technical presentations – all in the aim to work collectively across the industry. With 2018 just around the corner, we have our technical meeting on 27 February, followed by our Geological Survey workshop and Summer Conference later in the year.

For more information on the YCLF, click here.