New publications this month:
HM TREASURY
Energy Bills Discount Scheme
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme was announced in January 2023. The existing Energy Bill Relief Scheme for non-domestic consumers will be replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme on 1 April 2023.
Energy Bills Discount Scheme will provide smaller discounts than the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and is expected to run until at least 31 March 2024. Subject to an overall cap of £5.5 billion, a capped wholesale cost will be applied when wholesale prices exceed set price thresholds.
Additional support will be provided to 70% of energy consumed by Energy and Trade Intensive Industries (ETII). Eligible ETII are defined in a list that has been made available online.
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
Environmental Improvement Plan 2023
The Environment Act 2021 required that the 25 Year Environment Plan was reviewed by the end of January 2023. The Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 (EIP 23) discharges this review requirement.
The EIP 23 mainly covers policy specific to England only. Commitments within the plan include:
Nature:
Water:
Air:
Waste:
The EIP is supported by an outcome indicator framework, which presents progress against the goals set by the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Environmental principles policy statement
This statement fulfils an obligation under the Environment Act 2021, which states how policymakers are required to apply environmental principles to support environmental protection and enhancement. The policy statement is expected to become binding from 1 November 2023; after this date Ministers will be required to have due regard to the statement.
Clean air zones
This guidance now reflects that a Class C clean air zone is now in operation in Newcastle and Gateshead.
Review for implementation of Schedule 3 to The Flood and Water Management Act 2010
This report proposed that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) become a legal requirement for new developments in England. It is understood the Government intends to proceed with this recommendation and that a consultation will be undertaken in 2023.
SuDS are already legally required for qualifying developments in Wales.
Environmental Land Management update: how government will pay for land-based environment and climate goods and services
The Government has confirmed that the previously announced Environmental Land Management scheme will proceed. This document provides details of the full range of actions farmers and land managers will be paid for under the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship initiatives. The scheme aims to protect and improve the environment.
DEFRA, FORESTRY COMMISSION, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AND WELSH GOVERNMENT
Plant biosecurity strategy for Great Britain (2023 to 2028)
This document states how Defra, the Forestry Commission and the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales will work together to protect plant biosecurity in Great Britain in the period to 2028. The strategy is centred around 4 key outcomes.
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY (BEIS)
Regulations: ecodesign of energy-consuming products
The list of energy-related products and the respective ecodesign regulations has been updated.
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)
The following RPSs were published or updated during January 2023:
FORESTRY COMMISSION
Interception of non-compliant solid wood packaging material and other material imports
This infographic presents details of how non-compliant wood-based materials has been intercepted in Great Britain, alongside the top ports for this activity between April and September 2022. The primary port for non-compliant material was Southampton.
SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (SEPA)
Landfill site management plan guidance
Landfill operators are required to operate a number of management plans. Guidance is provided on these documents.
WELSH GOVERNMENT
Biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems duty
Two lists of habitats and living organisms of principal importance have been published as part of guidance to public authorities on meeting the biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems duty:
EUROPEAN INTEGRATED POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL BUREAU (EIPPCB)
Revised Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference (BREF) documents
The EIPPCB published two revised BREF documents in January 2023. These will apply to permitted organisations in EU Member States that fall within the respective sectors:
Partial suspension of Landfill site’s permit
On 25 January 2023, SEPA partially suspended Patersons of Greenoakhill Limited’s Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permit due to issues with odour from the landfill.
The operator may no longer accept any more non-hazardous waste for landfill on to the site until they have assessed, identified and implemented measures to ensure that offensive odours produced from waste operations are not detectable beyond its site boundary. The remainder of operations at the site are unaffected.
The odour from the landfill has historically impacted the local community. SEPA served an enforcement notice on the operator for non-compliance with the odour condition of the sites permit on 22 July 2021. The operator also received a civil penalty of £6,200 for breach of its environmental permit resulting in an offensive odour that affected local communities for eight days in June 2021 and led to 138 complaints.
SEPA officers returned to the landfill site in December 2021 to find that the operator had failed to comply with previous enforcement notice. SEPA continued to carry out odour assessments through 2022.
During December 2022 and January 2023, officers carried out odour assessments to determine the scale of the impact on the community and gather evidence. The operator is understood to have been carrying out several actions and has been meeting SEPA regularly.
Relevant Legislation
Section 55(1)(a) of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 allows the SEPA to serve a notice (“enforcement notice”) on the operator of a permitted installation or mobile plant if it considers that the operator has contravened any condition of a permit.
Waste management company fined for illegal operations at a farm in Wiltshire
Cleansing Services Group Ltd, who was contracted to treat sewage waste at Kingsdown Farm in Wiltshire, has been fined after it was found they knowingly illegally treated sewage without a permit.
During October 2020, an investigation by the Environment Agency found that the company had not obtained the legally-required permits to screen sewage before it entered tanks ready for spreading on land. The landowner was not involved in the work and was unaware of the unpermitted screening activities.
The company had previously applied for a judicial review of what constituted treatment requiring a permit, and whether the removal of ‘rag’ was in fact a treatment requiring a permit. A judgement in February 2019 confirmed that this operation was a form of treatment which required a permit, indicating that the company was aware they were acting illegally.
Breaches
Cleansing Services Group Ltd was charged for breaching Regulation 12(1)(a) and Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016:
Penalty
Cleansing Services Group Ltd was fined £62,127 and ordered to pay £9,827.15 in costs with a £180 statutory surcharge.
A Multi-national paint company was fined £650,000 after banned chemical entered Yealm estuary
International Paint Ltd has been found guilty of offences relating to the discharge of hazardous waste from a tank located on the quay at its Newton Ferrers paint testing facility.
The offences occurred between 2 September 2015 and 27 October 2016. These included causing a discharge activity not authorised by an environmental permit and the failure of the company’s duty of care to prevent the escape of water, namely containing hazardous material.
The Environment Agency launched an investigation after the company tried to sell the premises in 2015 and possible pollution had been reported. Since 1928, International Paints Ltd had manufactured paints, including anti-fouling paints for ships, and operated a testing facility on the River Yealm near Newton Ferrers. The estuary is designated as a Special Area of Conservation due to its rich flora and fauna.
Since the 1970s, tributyltin (TBT) had been used in hull coatings to prevent the build-up of animals and plants. TBT was proved to be very toxic to the marine environment and was banned from use on small vessels in the UK in the late 1980s before a total worldwide ban during the 2000s.
The investigation found evidence that TBT, along with copper, arsenic and mercury, had been present in sediments in a tank at the site and some of the sediment had escaped to the estuary. A bung on another tank was found to have come out, leaving it open to the estuary before it was eventually permanently sealed with concrete.
Samples of sediment from the tanks and the adjacent estuary were analysed. The results found that that nine out of 11 samples exceeded the safe limit for TBT and a sample close to site contained 80,000 times the safe level. It was concluded that the TBT levels in the estuary were sufficient to have the potential for a major toxic effect on marine life.
International Paint Ltd was found guilty of breaching Regulation 12(1)(a) and Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 and Section 34(1)(b) and Section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990:
Penalties
International Paint Ltd was fined £650,000 and ordered to pay costs of £144,992.
