The Response to the Committee on Climate Change Report (Extension of Period) Order 2023 will amend the Climate Change Act 2008 on 14 October 2023.
This legislation applies across the UK.
What will change?
The deadline for the Secretary of State to respond to the Climate Change Committee’s annual progress report for 2023 has been deferred to 31 October 2023. This was originally due by 15 October 2023.
This delayed response deadline follows a prior delay in 2022.
Background
Section 37 of the Climate Change Act 2008 set a deadline of 15 October in each year for the Secretary of State to respond to the Climate Change Committee’s annual progress report.
The 2023 annual progress report was published in June 2023 and was covered within the June monthly update.
New publications this month:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AND DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
ESOS guidance now reflects the planned changes to reporting requirements in phase III and the deferred deadline of 5 June 2024.
ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Permit requirements for Medium Combustion Plant (MCP) and Specified Generators (SG) in England
Two briefing notes were published/updated in September 2023 concerning environmental permitting requirements for MCP and SG:
Guidance is also provided on timescales for the first and subsequent MCP emissions monitoring exercises required.
Updated guidance on general binding rules for water discharge and groundwater activities
Specified low-risk activities may be undertaken without an environmental permit, provided the respective rules are met. These guidance documents have been updated (or published for the first time) to reflect changes to these rules due to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2023, which came into force on 2 October 2023:
Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs):
The following RPSs were published or updated in September 2023:
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)
Delay to Biodiversity Net Gain requirements
Defra has confirmed that biodiversity net gain requirements on developments in England will now be applied from January 2024, rather than November 2023 as was previously planned. The requirements will apply on small sites from April 2024 and on Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects from 2025.
PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
Roll-back of a range of emissions reduction policies
On 20 September 2023, the Prime Minister announced the roll back or deferral of a number of policies. These policies were previously announced as part of the package of measures to deliver net zero by 2050. The measurements concerned are as follows:
DEFRA AND ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Extended producer responsibility for packaging: who is affected and what to do
Alongside updated terminology, this guidance now reflects a statement that English and Scottish regulators will not take enforcement action, provided that organisations submit packaging data by 31 May 2024.
DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO
UK heat networks: market overview
This document provides a summary of the UK heat network market and potential opportunities.
DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO AND OFFICE FOR PRODUCT SAFETY AND STANDARDS
List of energy-related products with the applicable regulations
An excel spreadsheet listing all energy-related products and the applicable legislation in Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been published.
WELSH GOVERNMENT
Single-use plastics: draft guidance
This draft document provides guidance on the restrictions on single-use plastics that will apply in Wales from 30 October 2023.
STATE OF NATURE PARTNERSHIP
State of Nature Report 2023
This report reviews the condition of nature across the UK. UK species have declined by an average of 19% since 1970 and 16% of species are threated with extinction in Great Britain (12% in Northern Ireland).
Nation-specific reports have also been prepared for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT
Onshore wind sector deal
Commitments from the Scottish Government and onshore wind industry are stated in support of the objective of delivering 20 GW of onshore wind in Scotland by 2030.
Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund
Guidance is provided on funding for social housing landlords to install zero direct emission heating systems and energy efficiency measures.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Decommissioning of non-nuclear facilities for radioactive substances activities
Guidance is provided on the decommissioning of non-nuclear facilities for radioactive substances activities regulated under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993.
Suspended jail sentences for family members in connection with waste offences
A son and mother have been sentenced for illegal waste activities at a site in Huddersfield. The son and mother were director and manager of Hunter Group (Yorkshire) Limited, also known as Sam H Services Limited.
The company had premises in Huddersfield, and held an environmental permit, which applied conditions to ensure waste activities did not impact the environment.
Following site inspections by the Environment Agency in 2015 and 2016, the site was found to be repeatedly in breach of its permit, as huge piles of waste were found. The piled wate was pushing against a perimeter fence, which was broken in places. Shredded waste was found stored between a roofed area and a wall, when it should have been in a building or held in bays.
The Environment Agency ordered the waste be moved and the fences repaired, but return inspections found that no improvements had been made.
Following continued permit breaches and concerns regarding waste falling through the fence and potentially polluting a river, two enforcement notices were issued. When advice had been given to make improvements, the son was verbally abusive to officers on more than one occasion.
A further visit found waste being stored had increased significantly, was rotting and being stored in large steaming piles.
In June 2016 another individual began running the company and site. On 18 August 2016, a fire broke out at the site and a large amount of runoff accumulated behind the premises of a nearby glass factory from firefighting activities. This posed a major concern as it was about to overflow into the river or flood the building, where the glass company had important compressor machinery. To avoid this, West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service deployed a small pump to move this runoff into the sewer network.
On 25 August 2016, Kirklees Council decided to bring machinery onto site to dig into the waste pile and move the waste around on the site to help the fire service extinguish the fire. The fire was still smouldering on the 30 August 2016.
It took Kirklees Council till March 2017 to remove all the waste from the site to reduce the risk of ongoing fires.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the waste offences and accepted they had kept waste which posed a fire risk in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health.
Penalties
The son and mother were given a 24-month custodial sentence and 12-month sentence respectively, suspended for two years.
Additionally, the son is required to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work, the maximum number of hours a court can order. The mother must undertake 80 hours of unpaid work.
Lancashire waste criminal receives prison sentence
A prolific waste criminal has been sentenced to more than three years in prison. The waste criminal had failed to pay back money he made from his illegal waste activities.
In a case brought by the Environment Agency, the man was sentenced at Liverpool Magistrates Court on 7 September 2023, after a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to appear in court in July 2023.
Penalty
In January 2023, the man was ordered to pay £368,682.50, fixed by the total value of assets available to him at that time. The man failed to make this payment and was sentenced a further to 3 years and 5 months in prison.
The man had previously received a jail term of three years immediate imprisonment on 23 July 2021 for illegal waste activities at two sites.
Three men receive suspended sentences for waste offences
Three men from Armagh have received custodial sentences for the unauthorised management of nearly 7,000 tonnes of waste.
an investigation by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) uncovered significant fraudulent offending regarding the operation of an unlicensed waste business in Armagh.
During an inspection in October 2017, NIEA Officers discovered a large amount of mixed waste in a yard adjacent to the dwelling house. Waste was also stacked in large sheds located on the site. In addition, baled waste was observed in a shed next to the office and numerous pieces of waste processing equipment including material handlers, balers, shredders, skips, ejector trailers and a trommel waste sorting machine were located on the site. Checks revealed that the site had been operating without a waste licence since 2014.
A Proceeds of Crime investigation is ongoing.
Breaches
All three men pleaded guilty to breaching Article 4(1)(b) of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997:
One of the men also pleaded guilty to breaching Article 4(1)(a) of the same Act:
This man also plead guilty to fraud offences under the Fraud Act 2006.
Each of the three men received a 25 month custodial sentences suspended for two years.
One man had also entered an earlier guilty plea to a fraud offence for which he received a concurrent custodial sentence of 25 months suspended for 2 years.
