A number of businesses across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire are on notice to comply with the law on waste disposal, after a series of unannounced checks by the Environment Agency on Tuesday 3 October.

Officers visited more than 100 sites and firms across the Thames Valley, and will be following-up on 10 illegal waste sites found during the day. The owners may face prosecution. Other premises were given advice and guidance to help them meet their legal requirements.

Firms are required by law to manage waste without a threat to the environment, such as not releasing anything other than waste water into the drainage network. The surprise inspections covered the removal of hazardous items, like chemicals and car batteries. Thames Water assisted the Environment Agency on pollution checks. Companies were also checked for having the correct environmental permit for their business.

Environment Agency staff were also on hand at DIY store Wickes in Slough, to offer free waste-handling advice to hauliers and homeowners, in order to reduce fly-tipping.

Mark Tucker, Installations Team Leader for the Environment Agency in the Thames Valley, said:

The Environment Agency works with business to make sure waste ends up in the right place, and may take more formal action where we believe a serious crime has been committed through illegal waste disposal.

Anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of waste has a duty of care to make sure it is managed correctly. The public can do their bit by only using a licenced waste carrier, or reporting any concerns on waste management to the Environment Agency on 0800 807060.

The 117 sites we inspected this week were under no illusion of their legal obligations on waste management. Mishandling waste, poorly-operated permitted sites and illegal waste activities can pose a threat to human health and the environment by contaminating land, polluting rivers and producing emissions from burning waste.

As well as breaking the law, illegal operations undermine the work done by legitimate firms.

Waste crime is a very serious issue for both local communities and the environment. The Environment Agency uses reports from industry and the public to build intelligence, and target those involved in organised environmental crime, and where their activities pose the greatest risk to the environment.

Handling of illegal waste can be reported anonymously to Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111. There are lots of signs that could suggest suspicious activity. These include:

• Out-of-hours activity at night, over weekends and during bank holidays
• Smoke caused by constant burning
• An increase in the number of lorries entering a site
• Waste going into a site but not coming out with increasing quantities of waste stockpiled on site
• Water pollution

The Environment Agency and local councils also investigate reports of fly-tipping.

All media enquiries: 0800 141 2743.

Or email us at southeastpressoffice1@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Communities are warned to be prepared for a coastal surge which is forecast today. As a precaution the Environment Agency will close the Thames Barrier at 10am and re-open it at 4pm (5 October 2017) to reduce the risk of possible flooding in London and along the Thames catchment.

During today’s closure the Thames Barrier, along with the associated gates and embankments, will be operating as part of our network of defences, protecting over 550,000 properties. The Thames Barrier is one of the largest moveable flood barriers in the world, protecting 125 square kilometres of central London.

It stretches 520 metres across the River Thames at Charlton and each gate takes 10 to 15 minutes to close (1.5 hours for total closure), and the control room is manned 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Andrew Batchelor, Thames Barrier Manager said:

We are closing the Thames Barrier to protect London from the threat of flooding due to high water levels around the time of high tides from the sea.

Practical advice on preparing for flooding can be found on GOV.UK or by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188. Communities can also follow us on Twitter at @EnvAgencySE and #floodaware for the latest flood updates.

For all media enquiries please contact 0800 141 2743 or email southeastpressoffice1@environment-agency.gov.uk.

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into Chichester and District Dog Rescue Society, registered charity number 255866. The investigation was opened on 13 September 2017.

The charity’s activities include caring for and supporting stray dogs in East Hampshire and West Sussex.

In March 2017 the charity’s independent examiner, in accordance with his statutory duties under the Charities Act 2011, reported anomalies in the charity’s financial records. The Commission subsequently reviewed the charity’s financial records and identified concerns about its financial controls.

The charity has also failed to submit its accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2016, which were due by 31 January 2017 and the accounts for 2015 are not compliant with the Statement of Recommended Practice, and have not been independently examined.

The inquiry was opened due to these serious regulatory concerns and will examine the following issues:

• the administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees with specific regard to the extent to which the trustees have;
  • responsibly managed the charity’s resources and financial affairs, in particular the adequacy of the charity’s financial controls
  • adequately managed risks to the charity, its property and reputation including the risks of misappropriation and misapplication of charity funds
  • avoided or managed conflicts of interest
• the extent to which any failings or weaknesses identified in the administration of the charity during the conduct of the inquiry were a result of misconduct and/or mismanagement by the trustees

As a result of its concerns regarding the charity’s financial controls, the Commission has made an order under Section 76(3)(d) to freeze the charity’s bank accounts. It has also made an order under Section 76 (3)(f) of the Charites Act restricting the trustees from entering into transactions in the administration of the charity without the authority of the Commission.

The Commission stresses that opening an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing. The purpose of an inquiry is to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether there has been misconduct and mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity’s property, beneficiaries or work; decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

PR 65/17

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
2. Search for charities on our online register.
3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the Commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.

UK businesses will use funding to take on some of the biggest healthcare and agriculture challenges.

DECA Chief Executive Geraint Spearing and members of the Executive Management Board and Trades Unions greeted the Secretary of State for Defence on his arrival before a tour of the facility. The visit provided the opportunity for the Secretary of State to meet some of DECA’s team of world-class technicians and experience first-hand DECA’s electronics and components capabilities that were vital to securing the global F35 avionic component Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade assignment in November last year. This included demonstrations by the DECA team of our capabilities on in-service equipment across Air, Land and Maritime environments including some hands on experience in the DECA Capability Development Area.

The Secretary of State engaged with staff as he made his way around the Avionics Repair Facility, keen to see up close the precision work and ask questions on the activities on the shop floor including, Tornado Partnered Support, Typhoon fibre-optic cable repair work, secure communications and cryptographic activity that DECA staff from Sealand and deployed teams carried out on HMS Queen Elizabeth and DECA capabilities at our second site at Stafford.

Ian Ford, Typhoon Account Manager also provided an overview of DECA’s repair-not-replace capabilities for Typhoon components that has identified potential cost avoidance savings of over £30M that are being actively taken forward with Industry partners. Secretary of State also received an overview of DECA’s Test Solution and Software Development activities and was particularly interested in the recent obsolescence repair work and extremely positive customer feedback on urgent operational requirements for HMS Ocean’s Engine Safety System and to Sentinel Tactical Display Units.

Following a tour of the Team UK, F-35 Campaign Room, where Secretary of State was given an overview of the program and was introduced to members of the joint team (DECA, BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman), the Secretary of State addressed DECA staff in the dedicated facility that will house the global F-35 component hub saying,

I am delighted to be here today because I did want to see this facility close up and see the support you are giving to our armed forces. What you are doing here is part of helping to keep this country safe.

I have also seen something else here today. I have seen the repairs you have been doing to HMS Ocean and I hope those of you who worked on that project can take real credit and pride.

I was scheduled to come here earlier this year to congratulate you on winning the European repair hub for the F35 and also, of course, winning the case to be a global support provider. That was a partnership effort which I know many were involved in pulling together to make sure that Britain won that contract and I look forward to coming back here when some of this space is being used to service that contract.

Now that isn’t the end of the story, that contract itself opens up huge opportunities for us here in Britain. It is not properly understood that the F35 programme is the biggest fighter aircraft programme in history. Eventually we will see some three thousand aircraft in service with over a dozen different air forces.

And you are part of that and your bid to win that contract opens up future opportunities for even more F35 work. You are not only playing a critical part in our nation’s defence, you are actually doing something rather different, you are advertising Britain’s skills, British technology and British brainpower. You are advertising that to the rest of the world, so thank you.