A company that grows crops for energy has been ordered to pay a total of £45,648.50 in fines, costs and compensation after it polluted 2 Fenland watercourses.

Pretoria Energy Company (Arable) Limited, which produces feedstock for a sister company’s anaerobic digestion plants, admitted causing the pollution incidents at Little Racy Drain (a tributary of the Forty Foot Drain) in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk, and the New Cut Drain (West) at Aldreth in Cambridgeshire.

At Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on 8 August 2019, the court was told that both pollution incidents were a result of silage liquor leaking from ag-bags and making its way into the watercourses.

Magistrates heard that ag-bags are large bags often stored on fields, filled with agricultural feeds and once sealed should be airtight. They vary in length, but an example of the size of ag-bag involved in this case is 77 meters long and contained 318 tonnes of silage.

Being airtight and subject to direct sunlight, there is a large amount of gas and silage liquor produced in the ag-bags which needs maintenance by the owner, typically by releasing the gas to avoid the bags bursting and removing of the liquor to stop the polluting liquid escaping and getting into the environment.

The court was told that on 7 February 2017, the Environment Agency was contacted by a member of the public to advise that they believed there had been a pollution from the ag-bags located on land in Emneth.

An Environment Agency officer attended the site the following day and found that the pollution was caused by silage liquor escaping from some of the 8 ag-bags present on site. Some of these ag-bags had holes in the sides from where it is believed the silage liquor had leaked.

Sewage fungus was found growing 300m downstream of the incident.

It is believed that other ag-bags had leaked silage from underneath.

A representative from the company attended site on 8 February 2017 to meet with the officer and said that he would get the ag-bags removed.

Despite this, the officer attended back at the Emneth site on 29 March 2017 where he discovered that all 8 of the ag-bags were still present on site. Samples showed that the pollution was continuing to have an impact on the watercourse.

On July 19 2017, a council employee attended the site following an odour complaint and could see that there were 5 ag-bags still present.

At a separate location in Aldreth, Cambridgeshire, reports were received of a potential pollution on 26 May and 30 May 2017.

Environment Agency officers attended the scene and found 14 ag-bags present, each containing up to 318 tonnes of silage.

Although 8 of the bags had completely failed by bursting or leaking and discharging silage liquor, it was believed the liquor had been contained and had not entered the watercourse.

However, during a second visit on 1 June, officers inspected the watercourse and found the water was black, smelt stagnant and there was sewage fungus on the edges of the water’s surface up to 535 meters downstream from the point it entered the watercourse. The pollution was traced back to the ag-bags.

Samples taken on 23 June found the water to be “clearly harmful” to the biodiversity of the watercourse.

Interviewed under caution, the company admitted that it had caused the pollution in both instances.

Regarding Emneth, the company said it had tried to identify drains on the site and had checked the ag-bags, but admitted to not pumping out any of the silage liquor which ended up in the watercourse.

The company cited the extreme weather for the bursting of the ag-bags at Aldreth and had said that the ground had been too hard to absorb some of the liquid.

The court was told that another company in the group has previous convictions for 2 similar offences dating back to 2014. A director of Pretoria Energy Company (Arable) Limited accepted that the companies communicated lessons learnt from that incident.

At sentencing, the Magistrates found that the company were reckless with respect to both incidents.

After the sentencing, environment officer, Joe Vervaeke, said:

We are satisfied with the sentence handed out today and hope it acts as a deterrent to others.

The silage liquor which leaked from the ag-bags into the watercourses would have had a detrimental effect on the environment so it is only right that the company responsible should be held to account.

Students will receive their Level 1/2 BTEC awards on Wednesday this week. These are new versions of qualifications that are being awarded for the first time this year.

Pearson found during its awarding process that learners’ outcomes were significantly higher, and grading was more generous across the cohort, than it had predicted on the basis of students’ prior attainment. As a result, Pearson decided to make adjustments to most of its grading points.

Pearson made us aware of this situation and its response in early August. It is always challenging with new specifications to know precisely how the assessments will function and how students will perform on them. It is therefore regrettable that Pearson set out definitive grading points in its specification, and we have seen that changing these has led to understandable uncertainty and frustration.

Our priority is securing that appropriate standards are set, being fair to all students who have taken these qualifications this year, in previous years and in years to come. On the basis of the evidence we have seen, the action Pearson has taken to set standards has been appropriate at the overall, cohort level. However, the decision to publish grading points in their specification may have led some teachers and students to take different decisions than they might otherwise have done.

We understand that students, schools and colleges will be concerned about how these changes may impact them. If students or teachers have questions or concerns now, or after receiving their results, they should seek support from Pearson, which is providing information and advice.

There are significant lessons to be learned by all awarding organisations about the commitments they make in their specifications and associated materials, and how they communicate with schools and colleges when issues arise. We will be reflecting on these issues further after results are published.

The light show – put on by the Environment Agency and partners – aims to raise awareness of flood risk.

A blue strobe light illuminated the skies of Tendring this weekend as part of a project to raise flood awareness.

The Environment Agency teamed up with Tides of Tendring project, Heritage Lottery Fund, Midas and Kl sound to launch the 3-night light extravaganza.

On Friday 16 through to Sunday 18 August, light was projected from Jaywick Martello Tower and Golf Green Hall to highlight the current flood plain and the extent of the devastating floods of 1953.

The project aimed to spread awareness of flood safety and celebrate the Tides of Tendring exhibition, which was funded by Heritage Lottery Fund. The volunteer group, Friends of Martello Tower, launched the project as they wanted to inform the local community about flood awareness and safety.

Caroline Adams, project manager of Tides of Tendring, said:

The volunteers discovered that many people were unaware of the current and future flooding risks.

Residents didn’t know how best to prepare or what to do if the seawall was breached. The lights are to highlight the size of the flood plain and how far the water has reached.

We hope that the lights will guide them to discover more via the exhibition, talks and events at the Jaywick Martello Tower.

Tina Starling, flood resilience advisor for the Environment Agency in East Anglia, said:

We want this to create a conversation about the risk of flooding, encourage people to check their flood risk and sign up for free flood warnings.

We are hoping that as a result of this project more people will become flood aware.

I would encourage members of the public to take advantage of the Tides of Tendring exhibition. It will be running a number of free events and activities so you can become flood aware and help the Environment Agency create a nation of climate champions.

The Tides of Tendring exhibition runs until 5 September with a number of free educational family activities planned including the painting of the seawall, children’s activities with the Environment Agency and a number of talks.

You can see the full list of events on the Jaywick Martello Tower website and Facebook page.

People can always check their flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest outlook on the Environment Agency’s website, call the Environment Agency Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or follow @EnvAgency on Twitter for the latest flood updates.