Over 1,500 Scottish farmers and crofters have benefited from attending nearly 80 events run by the new Farm Advisory Service (FAS) over the first four months since it was launched last September.
It is being released now in response to a request by Defra to publish management information provided to them for operational purposes. The figures are provisional and will be subject to revisions as further quality assurance is complete and as updated information are received and analysed. Due to their provisional nature these data are high level aggregations without further breakdown.
It is planned that these provisional data will be followed by a more detailed final form statistical release as part of the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics annual publication in September 2017.
Scientists from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and University of Southampton have published a seamless onshore-offshore bedrock geology map of the eastern half of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
Over 1,500 Scottish farmers and crofters have benefited from attending nearly 80 events run by the new Farm Advisory Service (FAS) over the first four months since it was launched last September.
The Environment Agency has accepted an Enforcement Undertaking which will see Northumbrian Water pay £375,000 to charities in the North East after it breached environmental permitting regulations.
The offer also includes actions for Northumbrian Water to improve its operations and infrastructure.
It follows a sewage pollution incident involving West Wylam pumping station, investigated by the Environment Agency on 18 February 2015.
A blockage upstream of the pumping station resulted in raw sewage overflowing into Park Burn, a tributary of the River Tyne, breaching its permit.
Investigations showed significant water quality impact at Park Burn, with sewage odour and litter visible, and ammonia and suspended solid levels above accepted levels. Surveys indicated there had been no significant impact on the invertebrate population in the burn, and there was no impact on the Tyne, due to the river size and flow of the river.
Northumbrian Water carried out an immediate clean-up of the polluted area after it was reported to them.
The Environment Agency is making better use of the wide range of measures that are available to bring sites back into compliance as quickly as possible. Along with prosecutions, it uses enforcement notices, stop notices and civil sanctions to either improve performance or stop sites from operating.
The Environment Agency’s use of civil sanctions is in line with recent legislation extending their availability for more offences.
Civil sanctions such as these can be a proportionate and cost-effective way for businesses to make amends for less serious environmental offences. The company must offer to restore or remediate the harm caused by the incident, and demonstrate they will change their behaviour and ensure future compliance with legislation.
Fiona Morris, Environment Manager with the Environment Agency in the North East, said:
We will always take forward prosecutions in the most serious cases and while we did initially consider prosecution, the company submitted an EU which we subsequently accepted.
We felt it to be a more proportionate response that would benefit the environment – achieving more than if the company had been convicted and fined.
We work hard to protect people and the environment, and a clear regulatory framework with agreed standards and targets has helped to drive major environmental improvements over the last few decades.
We’re continuing to improve our approach to ensure that we remain a fair and proportionate regulator.
The actions offered in the accepted EU, require Northumbrian Water to:
Failure to comply with an EU may result in the offender being prosecuted for the original offence.
See the full list of the most recent enforcement undertakings