The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
This decision includes the permit and decision for:
The next phase of the landing obligation, also known as the ‘discard ban’, comes into force from 1 January 2018.
The Marine Management Organisation has provided guidance for the fishing industry to help them comply with the next phase of the discard ban. This outlines which fish come under the landing obligation, what fishermen have to do with them on board, and which can be sold for human consumption.
The new developments will see more fishing vessels captured by the landing obligation as thresholds for inclusion are reduced or removed for some fish species. There are also changes around exemptions for some vessels, in particular where scientific evidence indicates that an increase in selectivity of species is hard to achieve and around unwanted catches for certain gear types.
For 2018, the UK Government has worked to maintain, and in some cases extend, exemptions allowing fish with high survival rates to be discarded as well as some unwanted catches that are difficult to avoid. In addition, the MMO will continue to apply a fair and proportionate approach to enforcement.
The development is the latest phase of the wider discard ban which will bring an end to the practice of throwing dead fish back into the sea. The landing obligation was initially introduced in January 2015 for certain pelagic fisheries. All quota species will be phased in under landing obligation rules by 2019.
Guidance on the landing obligation can also be found on the European Commission’s website.
Financial support from the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF) may be available to help fishermen adapt and comply with the landing obligation. Further information is available on the MMO website.
A west London river was contaminated after toilets from luxury coaches were emptied into public drains.
Symphony Chauffeurs Ltd, based near Heathrow Airport, broke environmental law when staff poured waste into sewers, instead of taking the waste to an approved site for disposal.
Officers from the Environment Agency turned detective in 2015, tracing pollution in the River Crane to where Symphony operated, a trading estate minutes from the airport.
A monitoring device, called a sonde, found the river had been polluted, and other sondes identified Symphony as the source, which officers confirmed through a network of drains.
The watercourse was further polluted when chemicals and dirty water entered the drains after staff washed vehicles on Symphony’s premises. The firm had been warned by the Environment Agency and the company’s landlords doing so was against the lease. Symphony would have stayed within the law by disposing of the chemicals at an approved site, or by cleaning their cars and coaches at an authorised location.
Symphony Chauffeurs Ltd, Eastern Business Park, Ely Road, Hounslow, was fined £18,000 by Ealing Magistrates’ Court, which ordered the firm to pay £12,113.62 in costs, and a victim surcharge of £170. The company was charged with allowing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter into the River Crane, between May 2015 and February 2016, and failing to provide the Environment Agency with documents relating to their activities.
The sole director of the firm, Allen Jeyakumar, of Lee Road, Greenford, was fined £3,134 by the court, for allowing Symphony to commit the offences. Mr Jeyakumar also had to pay a victim surcharge of £142.
Mathew Reed, who led the investigation for the Environment Agency, said:
Incidents like this have the potential to have a serious and long-term impact on the health of the river. Symphony Chauffeurs Ltd was given repeated warnings about its activities.
People might think we will find it too difficult to trace the cause of pollution, but this case proves that some detective work leads to a conviction.
Identifying pollution through a complex network of drains can be difficult, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be done. We have the skills and technology to do it.
Both Symphony Chauffeurs Ltd and Allen Jeyakumar pleaded guilty to all charges at an earlier hearing.
For media enquiries, please call 0800 141 2743, or email southeastpressoffice1@environment-agency.gov.uk.
If you comply with the conditions of this regulatory position statement (RPS) you can use waste clay to construct slurry lagoons or irrigation reservoirs without an environmental permit for a waste operation.
The timing of marine works is generally driven by measures to mitigate risks to seasonable birds / migrating fish. This often means that works take place during summer months which could potentially lead to a larger impact on social and economic factors (for example tourism) than might occur during other seasons. This work would outline a process to balance the risks of an activity (environmental, social and economic) against the benefits and potentially propose approaches to mitigate the risk within the licensing framework.