Connally, 68, of Chaceley, Gloucester, was the sole director of the company that operated a waste treatment facility on the QinetiQ Industrial Estate in Long Lane, Pershore. In a case brought by the Environment Agency, Worcester Crown Court heard that between March 2013 and December 2015 he ran the site without the necessary environmental permit.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ custody suspended for 18 months and also ordered to complete 160 hours’ unpaid work in the community.

The cost of making the site, which is around the size of 3 football pitches, compliant would have been about £450,000. But in not doing so, Connally avoided those costs, plus more than £17,000 in fees to the Environment Agency. After the company was dissolved and the site abandoned, the cost of clearing it was in excess of £100,000.

Connally registered waste exemptions, which allowed up to 500 tonnes of waste to be stored at the site at any one time. During one of several site visits, environment officers estimated that nearly 9,000 tonnes of waste was illegally stored on site. Receipts showed that between April 2013 and August 2015, the company had invoiced a total of over £338,000 for the waste it had received and sold.

An inspection by the Environment Agency also found that the site posed a fire risk and that without proper drainage, water used to tackle any fire would have entered the Piddle Brook through highway drains. Plastics residue and pesticides from a cleaning operation also had the potential to cause pollution.

While Connally said he would apply for the necessary permits he never did and he also continued to operate when the Environment Agency and Worcestershire County Council served enforcement notices, until the site was abandoned in 2015.

In sentencing, the judge said he was in no doubt that the offending was deliberate and there was a long history in which Connally operated illegally, despite advice and visits from the Environment Agency. The clean-up costs were significant and the operation had taken up an enormous amount of regulatory time. He said that those who operate in the waste industry must understand that they must comply or risk prosecution.

The judge accepted the defendant’s remorse, steps taken to remedy the site and that he was of previous good character and gave him credit for his guilty plea. He directed that the case also be adjourned for consideration of confiscation proceedings.

Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said:

We tried to work with the company for two and a half years in an effort to get them to operate in a safe way and legal manner. By ignoring our advice, activities on the site posed a significant risk to the environment.

This prosecution shows that we will take action on reports of unlawful waste activities on sites that we regulate, and will pursue non-compliant operators through the courts.

Waste site operator Barry Connally, director of Rhino Recycling Limited, was given a suspended prison sentence after operating the site in Pershore illegally.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has today published its first voluntary report on staff disability, health and wellbeing.

• Publication of first ever FCO voluntary report on staff disability, health and wellbeing shows positive picture.
• FCO scores higher than civil service average on wellbeing, and lower than civil service on stress levels.
• Reporting period covers preparation and planning work for EU exit.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has today published its first voluntary report on staff disability, health and wellbeing. The Civil Service as a whole reports against the framework already, following the Stephenson-Farmer “Thriving at work” report, but this year individual departments are publishing information for the first time.

The FCO faces specific and unique challenges that could potentially impact on wellbeing, which other departments do not have to deal with. These include staff working far from friends and family, in difficult or even hostile environments, and the possibility of moving location to anywhere around the world at short notice.

The report finds that:

• FCO employees had a PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, sense of Meaning, and sense of Accomplishment) index score of 76%, higher than the median score for the Civil Service as a whole (74%).
• A stress index score of 27%, lower than the Civil Service average score of 29%.
• All FCO scores have shown small improvements over recent years.

Sir Simon McDonald Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, said:

“For the last three years we have worked hard on the UK’s exit from the EU. This year we temporarily relocated some staff to key locations across Europe to support British Nationals and business. I am proud that we continue to improve our wellbeing scores. The well-being of staff throughout our global network is a priority.”

The report also sets out how the FCO is supporting disabled staff and details of the FCO Wellbeing Strategy, which was launched in May 2018.

The full report can be found here.

At the Planning Summit held in London on 14 May the Minister for Housing, Kit Malthouse MP, endorsed our Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the Inquiries Review.  As we have previously announced, we have begun implementing some of the recommendations and this update summarises the latest step forward.

Recommendation 3 advises streamlining the procedure used by appellants when they request an inquiry, recommending they notify the relevant local planning authority (LPA) at least 10 working days in advance of the submission of the appeal, ensuring they also share the notification with the Inspectorate at the same time.

How to notify

With immediate effect, you should notify the Local Planning Authority and also the Planning Inspectorate by email inquiryappeals@planninginspectorate.gov.uk at least 10 working days before submitting your planning appeal.

In the notification, we request that you include:

• Appellant name

• The Local Planning Authority that the appeal will be against

• Reason for appeal

• Site address

• Description of development

• Planning application number; and

• Likely submission date of appeal.

Download the template to attach to the notification email.

We have also asked local planning authorities to provide this instruction to applicants in the decision notification.

For clarity, this only applies to planning appeals that follow the inquiry procedure.

Next actions for the inquiries review

In the next few weeks, we will publish guidance on new arrangements for the statement of case and statement of common ground. Appellants and local planning authorities should familiarise themselves with the guidance once published.

Keep informed about the changes

As we implement the recommendations of the Inquiries Review, we will publish updates on Inquiries Review page of GOV.UK. Subscribe to email notifications to keep updated on progress and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.