A major exercise is taking place this week that will test the response to a large flooding incident along the whole of the River Trent, the third longest river in the country.

The scenario will test how the Environment Agency, emergency services, councils, government departments, utility companies, the Met office and the military exchange information, provide aid and test local and regional emergency plans.

The exercise is based on a long period of wet weather that has saturated the region, followed by an intense storm which causes significant flooding.

Local Resilience Forums from Staffordshire to Humberside will be involved alongside Strategic and Tactical co-ordination groups, with the Environment Agency injecting scenarios along the way to keep everyone focused and ensure it challenges those involved.

Paul Lockhart, East Midlands Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency said:

We don’t get second chances during a major flooding incident so it is essential that we test our response through exercises like this one, to make sure every organisation can work together to do everything possible for communities when we are faced with the real thing.

We appreciate that major flooding events don’t take place regularly and therefore many people often don’t think about the potential consequences. It is great for the public to know that so many organisations will be looking out for them if the worst happened, but whilst we can reduce the risk of flooding, major weather events do occur which test flood defences.

Flooding is dangerous and can happen very quickly. The effects can be devastating. There are a number of things you can do to prepare for flooding to keep yourself and your family safe. Find out if your home is at risk, sign up for flood warnings and be ready to take action. Visit www.gov.uk/flood or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188.

Learning from the exercise will be used to shape how organisations respond to a major flooding incident on the River Trent in the future.

Moixa, a leading smart home battery business, is to launch its GridShare platform in Japan after signing a strategic partnership with Fortune 500 company ITOCHU Corporation.

Bringing GridShare to Japan

GridShare trades power stored in home smart batteries with national power grids and allows battery owners to make money from excess energy either stored from the grid or gained from solar panels.

It uses artificial intelligence to optimise battery performance based on patterns of behaviour, weather conditions and market prices. GridShare can also manage large numbers of devices to support solar generation, control electric vehicle charging and deliver services to the electricity grid.

It will be installed in all of ITOCHU’s Smart Star home batteries from the summer of 2018. Moixa and ITOCHU forecast that the number of energy storage systems in Japan will increase from 125,000 in 2016 to more than 500,000 in 2020.

The deal also sees ITOCHU invest £5 million in Moixa to help it fund international expansion.

Partnership is real opportunity to expand

Simon Daniel, Chief Executive of Moixa, said:

ITOCHU is a major player in the global battery market and this partnership provides a real opportunity for us to expand our business in Japan and provide GridShare technology to many global battery companies.

Moixa is looking to expand its GridShare partnerships with Japanese utilities and electric vehicle manufacturers and is also planning trials in the US and Europe.

Its own smart battery has been installed in 1,000 homes in the UK, and the company has delivered more than £6 million of projects for councils, housing associations, energy utilities and network operators.

Koji Hasegawa, General Manager of Industrial Chemicals Department at ITOCHU, said:

Moixa has pioneered battery management, and we are proud to be investing and working together to target the rapidly growing energy storage market in Japan.

Moixa’s GridShare will help our customers get more value for their home batteries and will offer solutions to help our partners manage Japan’s low-carbon transition.

Technologies developed with funding support

Moixa has developed its technologies through a number of innovate-UK supported projects over the last 7 years.

These have included research and development into localised energy systems and low-cost storage of renewable energy, and studies into the feasibility of smart power systems.

The Environment Agency consults the public on certain applications for waste operations, mining waste operations, installations, water discharge and groundwater activities. The arrangements are explained in its Public Participation Statement

These notices explain:

• what the application is about
• how you can view the application documents
• when you need to comment by

The Environment Agency will decide:

• whether to grant or refuse the application
• what conditions to include in the permit (if granted)

Following his guilty plea at Hereford Magistrates’ Court, Gillum (aged 75), was fined £3,340 and ordered to pay £8,669.54 in costs, along with a £150 victim surcharge.

The charge was brought by the Environment Agency under Regulations 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 and 2016, also sections 34(5) and 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Gillum traded as Leominster Scrap Metal, from a site off North Road, Leominster between August 2015 and September 2017.

Following a report from a member of the public, Environment Agency officers investigated claims of an illegal scrap metal facility in operation. Officers found piles of miscellaneous scrap metal around the Site. They could see the ground contaminated with oil and found scrap motor vehicles, gas cylinders, wheels, batteries and metal sheeting. Burning of waste had also taken place.

Mr Gillum was advised that he needed an Environmental Permit or an exemption, to carry out the activities at the site. A few months later, an exemption was registered, however on a visit to the site in November 2015, Environment Agency officers noted that conditions of the exemption were not being met. The exemption was de-registered in April and following further illegal activity at the site, an enforcement notice was served in July 2016 requiring Gillum to remove all waste from the site. This Notice was not complied with.

Environment Agency Officers required that Gillum provided waste transfer notes relating to his business. Another enforcement notice was issued, but Gillum failed to provide the required documents. Gillum was interviewed under caution in November 2016, where he confirmed that he was a registered waste carrier and admitted that he had operated the scrap metal business for a few years.

Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said:

This case demonstrates that we are willing to take tough action on illegal operations such as Leominster Scrap Metal. Our investigations started with a tip-off from a member of the public, and has resulted in a successful prosecution.

In mitigation, the court took into account that Gillum has traded for 25 years and has suffered some ill health. Gillum apologised for not “moving with the times” or appreciating the consequences of his actions. He said that he was not aware of the sensitive receptors around his site, but had spent £15,000 to put in the necessary infrastructure.

If you see or suspect illegal waste activities, report it anonymously to Crimestoppers: www.crimestoppers-uk.org or call 0800 555 111 or via the Environment Agency Incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

The Environment Agency publish surrenders that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the partial surrender letter, decision document and site condition report evaluation template for:

• Operator name: Mueller Europe Limited
• Installation name: Bilston Copper Shaft Furnace
• Permit number: EPR/BJ9843IH/S006