Environment Agency enforcement officers in the North East are wearing body worn cameras as part of a six-month trial.

It is the first of its kind within the organisation and is aimed at assessing if cameras can help reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, assaults and threats against staff, particularly those working with regulated and illegal waste sites.

If successful, body worn cameras, which are now the norm among many enforcement agencies, could be rolled out to Environment Agency teams across the country. They could be used in a variety of ways, including at visits to poor performing sites, illegal waste sites, during fisheries and navigation patrols and even during incident response.

Since the trial started in April, waste enforcement and fisheries officers have been wearing the devices during their routine activities and activate them if they encounter a hostile situation or site.

Pilot scheme

The pilot scheme comes after Environment Agency employee, Paul Whitehill, an ex-police officer, was threatened with violence when he and a fellow colleague attended an illegal waste site on a routine visit. He said:

I worked with body cameras in the police and saw how effective they can be so suggested we run a trial.

Already officers have reported that wearing the cameras has prevented threatening situations from escalating.

Environment Agency waste enforcement officers regularly encounter aggressive behaviour across the country. Since 2001, the Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted 59 cases of obstruction, hostility or threatening behaviour towards staff, 22 of which were in the North East.

‘Safety is paramount’

Rachael Caldwell from the Environment Agency’s Waste and Enforcement Department, said:

The safety of our staff is paramount. They are well trained in dealing with hostile situations and we take any threat against them very seriously. But our preference is to prevent hostility in the first place.

Studies also show that people are less likely to contest the evidence when they know their offence is captured on camera. This could help speed up justice and reduce legal costs.

Officers taking part in the pilot must follow guidelines on use of these cameras. They will not be permanently switched on and people will be informed if they are being filmed. If they are used the footage is automatically deleted after a month unless it is required for evidential purposes.

Rachael added:

Officers will only switch the cameras on if and when they enter a hostile situation. That could be a site where they have experienced aggressive behaviour in the past, or an unknown quantity where hostility may be anticipated, such as on a remote river bank.

A Dorset man has received a six-month suspended prison sentence and been banned from working in the waste industry for five years after burning waste at a site near Poole.

Environment Agency officers visited French’s Farm, Watery Lane, Upton on 17 August 2015 to check whether David House had complied with a formal notice to remove illegal waste from the site. Earlier checks revealed the farm was being used for the illegal storage and disposal of domestic and commercial waste.

Inquiries revealed House, a tenant farmer, had been disposing of waste by burning at the site since 2013. In fact, the agency had evidence from reports of 64 fires during a five-year period at the site. Dorset Fire and Rescue dealt with 11 fires within six months in 2015.

During interview, House claimed he had given permission to others to dump and burn waste and promised to clear the site within a month. This was not done. In recognition of ill health, it was decided House would be given a caution as long as he removed the waste by a set deadline. Instead, waste fires began again and, despite being told not to, House spread the ash across his land. Tests revealed the ash contained arsenic, cadmium and lead.

During a second interview, House flippantly introduced himself as former Coronation Street character Ena Sharples before blaming others for the waste on his land.

Appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court, House pleaded guilty to knowingly causing the operation of a regulated facility without authority and disposing of controlled special waste in a manner likely to cause harm to human health.

He was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 15 months, and made the subject of a Criminal Behaviour Order that prevents him from being involved in the collection, transportation or disposal of waste from any premises.

Under the order, House is banned from setting or lighting any fire in the open for the purpose of burning controlled waste without obtaining permission, in advance and in writing, from the Environment Agency. He is also prohibited from importing or allowing any person in a vehicle to import or bring any waste onto any land, business premises or residential premises of which he has control or is the occupier. The ban runs for five years.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

While the vast majority of waste sites we regulate are well run and provide a much needed waste management service, we recognise there’s an issue with a small number of operators who break the rule of their permit.

We tried to work with Mr House to rectify issues and to ensure he was operating within the law but to no avail. We will prosecute those willingly found flouting the law by undertaking illegal activity and causing harm to the environment and human health.

House was previously prosecuted for assaulting an Environment Agency officer who was trying to photograph waste at his site during a separate hearing in December 2016.

Waste crime can cause serious pollution to the environment put communities at risk and undermines legitimate business and the investment and economic growth that go with it.

If you see waste crime report it by calling our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Editor’s notes

House pleaded guilty to one count of operating a regulated facility without a permit under sections (38(1)(a) & 12(1)(a) of Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 at Bournemouth Magistrates Court on 11 August 2017.

House pleaded guilty to disposal by burning under sections (33(1)(C) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 at Bournemouth Magistrates Court on 11 August 2017.

A North East man who burned waste at his illegal waste site to avoid disposal costs has been sentenced.

George Charlton, 62, of Manor Way in Jarrow, appeared at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court for sentence on Wednesday 23 August after previously pleading guilty to flouting environmental law.

He was charged with operating a waste site without a permit at Reay Street, Bill Quay in Gateshead, and illegally burning waste at that site.

He was sentenced to an 18-month Community Order, 250 hours of unpaid work, a 30-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement, and ordered to pay costs of £750.

No environmental permit

Acting on behalf of the Environment Agency, solicitor Laura Taylor told the court that
Charlton collected waste from friends and relatives and took it to the site without registering as a waste carrier. He also had no environmental permit to store and sort the waste at the yard.

Environment Agency officers first visited the site on 4 April 2016 after they saw a cloud of smoke coming from the compound. On investigation they saw a pile of waste on fire and waste including furniture, beds, mattresses, wood and waste electrical items strewn across the site.

They spoke to George Charlton, who was on site, who said he was looking after it for his son. He became aggressive but the officers said the fire needed to be put out. Charlton extinguished the fire before leaving the area.

Further visits saw the waste still remained on site. On 4 July, the Environment Agency sent a letter to Charlton requesting that he stopped all waste activities on the site and cleared all waste by 15 August 2016.

On 24 August, the Environment Agency attended the site for an inspection together with Northumbria Police and officers from Gateshead Council.

Officers saw there were still large piles of mixed waste including household furniture, white goods, construction waste, garden rubbish and some scrap vehicles. There was also evidence of burning.

On 25 August Charlton was interviewed, where he confirmed his son was the legal owner of the site having been transferred through a solicitor, and that he had been looking after the yard since 2013.

He said he would attend the site around twice a week to check on it and deposit rubbish from friends and relatives. He said he would weigh in the scrap metal for money and cut up wood and other items to burn them.

Waste still present

Paul Whitehill, Environment Officer with the Environment Agency in the North East, said:

Charlton was warned to stop his operation and to clear waste from the site but on multiple visits it was clear a large amount of waste was still present.

On the site inspection, which took place on 24 August 2016, after he was supposed to have cleared the site completely, there was still a large quantity of mixed waste and evidence of burning.

Illegal waste activity such as this has a detrimental impact on the community and environment, as well as undermining legitimate businesses. We’ll continue to work hard to ensure enforcement action is taken against those who flout the law.

The Environment Agency is calling on anglers and netsmen to have their say on potential salmon rod and net limitations through an initial consultation launched today (Thursday 24 August 2017).

The consultation aims to understand how the Environment Agency can better manage salmon fishing in England and the Border Esk in order to reduce the impact on salmon stocks, which are currently among the lowest on record.

It will also look at the impact that any restrictions could have on those whose livelihoods and interests depend on salmon. The initial consultation runs until Monday 9 October 2017 and invites anglers, netsmen, fishery managers and the public to give their views and to help shape the future of salmon stocks in England and the Border Esk. The results will then be used to issue a formal consultation later this year.

Salmon stocks across the Atlantic are challenged by a number of factors including marine survival and barriers to migration. The Environment Agency is working with partners on a programme of action to restore salmon stocks throughout England.

Heidi Stone, the Environment Agency’s Salmon Programme Manager said:

We are working hard to improve salmon stocks and are seeking views on measures to further protect this important species.

The issues facing salmon and the reasons for their decline are complex and there is no simple solution to increasing salmon numbers. Evidence indicates that the marine phase of their lifecycle is the most likely reason for their decline and that fishermen taking salmon is not the primary cause.

But if we do not act now, we risk seeing further declines in salmon in many of our rivers. We are asking for views on a range of options and your responses will truly help to form our approach to managing salmon stocks in the future.

The Environment Agency, Government, Angling Trust, Rivers Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, Salmon and Trout Conservation UK, Wild Trout Trust and Institute of Fisheries Management have formed a working partnership in order to address this issue. This programme is called the Salmon Five Point Approach, and has been jointly developed and committed to by all partners. It sets out the actions to address the key pressures that affect the different life stages of salmon.

The priorities are:

• Improve marine survival
• Further reduce exploitation by nets and rods
• Remove barriers to migration and enhance habitat
• Safeguard sufficient flows
• Maximise spawning success by improving water quality.

Find out more about the Salmon Five Point Approach.

Take part in the e-consultation.

Press enquiries: please call 0203 025 5623, or email newsdesk@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Evidence of communities on the Humber dating back 8,000 years will be discussed at a free community drop-in event at Welwick Village Hall on Monday 4 September.

Archaeologists will be on hand between 2-7pm to talk through the early findings from a geophysical study and small scale excavation between Outstrays and Skeffling last autumn.

The study found that the area contains a long and interesting history, with evidence of storm surge deposits, ancient river channels and areas of peat from as far back as the Middle and New Stone Age (approximately 3,000 to 8,000 years ago), which suggests that landscapes occupied and exploited by prehistoric people survive beneath the current farmland.

Across the higher parts of the site evidence was also found of Roman settlement activity which evolved into the medieval period as communities settled closer to the shore as the land was drained.

The initial archaeological assessment formed part of the design for the Outstays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme, a new habitat creation project on the Humber Estuary working in partnership between the Environment Agency and Associated British Ports.

Stephen Kemp, senior archaeologist at the Environment Agency, said:

Our initial assessment begins to tell the stories of communities by the Humber that learnt to adapt to environmental changes, like rising sea levels.

When many of these ancient communities lived here the coast was much further away and the surrounding land was significantly less populated, enabling people and the ecology to thrive.

The stories of the, now lost, villages provide interesting insight into environmental changes in today’s contexts and why, when providing managed realignment schemes like this, it is vital to ensure we are working with nature to make good long-term choices that will maintain our modern communities.

The Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme will see a new inter-tidal environment created that offsets habitat losses from future coastal development and ‘coastal squeeze’.

Coastal squeeze occurs when fixed hard flood defence structures, built to protect people and properties along the coast, reduce the inter-tidal land between low and high tide as a result of rising sea levels. It is a legal obligation for the Environment Agency to rebalance this coastal squeeze by creating a compensatory habitat.

As part of the proposed scheme a 900 acre natural habitat site will be created for estuarine and terrestrial wildlife and an improved landscaped flood defence will surround this area to help reduce the risk of flooding to the local community. Once complete, managed realignment sites like the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme are typically colonised with invertebrates and wading birds.

Environment Agency project manager Tim Cobb said:

With higher tides and changes in weather, we cannot avoid changes to our environment as we know it. But the results from our archaeological survey show that these changes have been happening for millennia and they stress the importance of addressing coastal squeeze in key locations on Britain’s coastline.

While the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme is still in public consultation stage we are keen to present our initial findings to the community. Perhaps more importantly though, we’d like to learn more about the local community’s understanding of the site to ensure they help us shape and maintain the important parts of the area’s history.

A planning application for the Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme is expected to be submitted at the end of 2017. Subject to planning approval, the Environment Agency says it anticipates starting work for the western site in 2018.

Further archaeological excavations are anticipated in advance of the main scheme construction and regular updates on the findings will be communicated to the community on a regular basis.

Partners involved in the Outstrays to Skeffling Managed Realignment Scheme excavation include: the Environment Agency, Historic England and York Archaeological Trust.