On Wednesday 8 August 2018, Matthew Holt, aged 26, of Hollington Crescent in Birmingham, was found guilty in his absence at Northampton Magistrates’ Court for using an unlicensed fishing rod and line at Mineral Lakes, Bedworth on 14 October 2017.

Holt was given a fine of £300 and ordered to pay trial costs of £800, plus a £30 victim surcharge, after appealing a previous fine of £220.

The case went to trial following an appeal by Holt after he was found guilty of fishing illegally on 14 October 2017. Holt claimed he had a fishing licence, but the court heard evidence from the Environment Agency that showed he was caught fishing with another angler. As the bailiff was taking details of the other angler, Holt hurriedly bought a licence online. The court agreed that Holt was found fishing before he had a licence and believed he would have continued to fish illegally if the bailiff had not arrived.

Andrew Eardley of the Environment Agency said:

An annual fishing licence costs just £30, yet a small number of anglers continue to flout the law and risk prosecution for fishing without a licence.

When buying a licence online it takes around 30 minutes to become active. It’s important anglers have a licence before fishing; the money from licences is invested into England’s fisheries and rivers; improving the sport of angling.

Environment Agency officers are out checking licences regularly throughout the year. A licence costs just £30 and lasts for 12 months from the day it is purchased.

Money from fishing licence sales is invested in England’s fisheries and is used to fund a wide range of projects to improve facilities for anglers including; protecting stocks from illegal fishing, pollution and disease, restoring fish stocks through re-stocking, eradicating invasive species and fish habitat improvements. Fishing licence money is also used to fund the Angling Trust to provide information about fishing, to encourage participation in the sport and to manage a voluntary bailiff scheme.

Children up to the age of 16 can fish for free, but do need to have a valid fishing licence. Anyone over 16 must pay for a licence to fish for salmon, trout, freshwater fish, smelt or eel in England.

Anyone witnessing illegal fishing can report it directly to the Environment Agency hotline, 0800 80 70 60. Information on illegal fishing and environmental crime can also be reported anonymously to Crime stoppers on 0800 555 111.

New fish pass ‘baffles’ to help fish get across a barrier in the River Wear have been installed this week in a significant step forward for the new Stanhope Fish Pass.

The Environment Agency resumed work on the fish pass in June after it was postponed in November due to health and safety concerns about high river levels, and to allow for fish to spawn.

The £260,000 project at Stanhope Weir includes a Larinier fish pass to open up the river and make it easier for salmon and sea trout to move up the River Wear to spawn.

Baffles are a series of metal plates which are fixed to a sloped concrete channel – they slow the flow of the water so that fish can swim over the top of them easily.

The Environment Agency is also carrying out repairs to the weir which will improve the river flow and level monitoring capability of the Stanhope River Gauging Station.

‘Significant step forward’

Daniel Magee Project Manager for the Environment Agency, said:

It’s a significant step forward for the new fish pass to see the baffles going in – this is going to make it so much easier for fish to reach their natural spawning grounds and is good news for the River Wear.

By also improving the monitoring capabilities of the gauging station we can continue to provide an accurate and timely flood warning service to around 400 homes at risk of flooding from the River Wear.

When the work is complete it safeguards the flood warning system for the future as well as creating environmental improvements. We appreciate the community’s continued patience while this work has been ongoing.

Stanhope Gauging Station is ranked in the top 10 most important flow sites in the North East area. Opened in September 1958 it has an almost continuous record of flow data, making it one of the longest flow records in the North East area at 60 years.

Work is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

With the hot weather set to continue for the next few weeks, the Environment Agency and the Pike Anglers’ Club (PAC) are asking people to take extra care while fishing to help protect vulnerable fish stocks.

Prolonged hot weather can cause problems in rivers, lakes and drains such as low oxygen levels, low river flows, elevated water temperatures and algal blooms, which in turn can lead to increased levels of stress on fish populations and even fish deaths in extreme conditions.

Steve Lane, Fisheries Technical Specialist at the Environment Agency said:

The hot weather and high water temperatures can make life difficult for fish.

We’re asking anglers to take particular care while fishing as the dry weather continues to help us protect fish stocks.

Please return fish to the water as quickly as possible and avoid using keepnets if practical to do so, particularly on lakes, the Broads and rivers with low flows.

Some species such as pike and barbel can be particularly vulnerable in hot conditions.

John Currie, General Secretary of the Pike Anglers’ Club and Chairman of the Broads Angling Services Group’s (BASG) Pike Strategy Group and Environment Sub Group, said:

PAC would ask anglers to consider the conditions caused by the very hot weather before deciding to fish.

The shallow waters of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, the Fens and the Somerset Levels are of particular concern, though we are also aware of problems further north.

It’s not just oxygen levels that can cause fish problems in warm conditions, so we urge anglers to think carefully before fishing.

Steve added:

As ever, anglers can help us protect fish by reporting signs of dead or distressed fish, pollution or illegal fishing to the 24 hour Environment Agency Incident Hotline number 0800 80 70 60.

Anglers can find further advice and guidance from the Pike Anglers’ Club.

The Environment Agency has received an application for a permit to discharge treated sewage effluent during construction of the proposed nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C near Bridgwater, Somerset.

The application has been made by NNB Generation Company (HPC) Limited, a subsidiary of EDF Energy.
The company already has a number of environmental permits issued by the Environment Agency to operate the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station on the North Somerset coast near Bridgwater.

The application is for the discharge of up to 1,150 cubic metres of treated effluent a day from a sewage treatment plant serving the campus construction welfare facilities that include wash basins, toilets, showers, a kitchen and a canteen, during the early stages of the construction at Hinkley Point C.

Domestic sewage effluent will be treated via a new British Standard sewage treatment plant before being pumped to the Severn Estuary. In order to minimise the impact on the receiving environment, the applicant proposes that the effluent will be subjected to disinfection by ultra violet irradiation before being discharged.

The applicant is proposing to discharge the effluent via an existing submerged outlet location near the seaward end of the Hinkley Point C jetty (known as Outlet 12).

People can view the permit application and submit comments online.

Comments can be made by email to psc-waterquality@environment-agency.gov.uk or by post, quoting application number EPR/XP3321GD/A001, by 5pm on 5 September 2018, to:

This information is also held in a register at:

You can look at our register 9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday. Please phone the National Customer Contact Centre on 03708 506 506 to arrange an appointment. You may get a copy of documents on the register. We may charge to cover copying costs.

Normally we must put any responses we receive on the public register. Please tell us if you don’t want your response to be public.

We must decide whether to grant or refuse the application. If we grant it, we must decide what conditions to include in the permit. Our guidance explains what factors are relevant to our determination.

Contractor Balfour Beatty is carrying out flood protection work across Monkton and Hebburn with work expected to be complete by the end of the year. It will protect around 100 homes and businesses from surface water flooding.

To minimise disruption, work that needs to take place close to local schools will be done during the school summer holidays, with construction in areas less affected by travel to and from school being completed in the autumn.

The main construction work follows a project in March this year to open up a section of the Bede Burn running underground – known as ‘daylighting’ – to the rear of Toner Avenue School. This was part of the ‘Living Waterways’ scheme to restore the burn and create a green space for the community to enjoy.

The Monkton Flood Alleviation Scheme is being delivered by South Tyneside Council and its partners at the Environment Agency and Tyne Rivers Trust.

Main engineering work

Tom Pitman, Project Manager for the Environment Agency and South Tyneside Council, said:

The work in the Spring to open up the Bede Burn and create a green space was really well received by the community and we’re pleased it will be a great facility for them to use in the future.

We’re now on to the main engineering work which will include improved drainage, swales to collect surface water run-off and an attenuation basin which is designed to collect water and slowly release it into the Bede Burn.

While there will inevitably be some disruption while we complete this work, we are working hard to keep it to a minimum. In particular the bulk of the work we need to do near to schools will be done during the school summer holidays.

‘Delighted’ construction is underway

Councillor Nancy Maxwell, Lead Member for Area Management and Community Safety, added:

I’m delighted to see the construction phase of this project get underway. The work done earlier this year behind Toner Avenue School has created a wonderful open space, which the community will be able to enjoy once the main flood alleviation works have been completed. We would ask residents to bear with us during this short term disruption.

Once complete, around 100 properties are going to reap the benefits of this scheme, with not only reduced flood risk but enhancements to the local environment too.

The scheme involves managing surface water where problems have been identified around the Monkton Burn, Lukes Lane Estate and Leam Lane area, Mill Lane, Lilac Walk/College Road, Devon Road, Campbell Park Road/ Thirlmere Court and Mountbatten Avenue areas.

The project will have wider social and environmental benefits, encouraging local people and children to get involved in creating valuable new habitat.

The project is largely funded by the Environment Agency, as well as a contribution from the local levy – which is money raised by local authorities for flood projects.

Motorists and pedestrians are advised there will be some diversions. The latest information on the scheme – including details of timescales and the required traffic management – can be found at the Monkton Flood Alleviation Scheme website