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 Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into the Cymmer Workmens Hall and Institute (810098). The investigation was opened on 7 September 2017.

The charity, based in Wales, operates a social club and funds educational activities. Its property is used by local community groups.

The Commission has previously provided advice and guidance to the trustees regarding substantial levels of non-primary purpose trading that the charity has undertaken and the charity’s failure to submit Statement of Recommended Practice compliant accounts.

The Commission is also concerned that there appears to be only one active trustee of the charity.

The charity was included and subsequently removed from the Commission’s class inquiry in 2014 after submitting the outstanding accounts, but fell into default and became part of the class inquiry again in February 2017. After further reminders from the Commission the charity submitted late accounts for 2014 and 2015 but these were not compliant with the Statement of Recommended Practice.

The investigation is examining:

• the administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees, with specific regard to:
  • ensuring any trading carried out by the charity is compliant with current legislation
  • the charity’s control systems
  • how the charity complies with its governing document
  • risks to the charity, its property and reputation
• the extent to which any failings or weaknesses identified in the management and administration of the charity, during the conduct of the inquiry, were a result of misconduct and/or mismanagement by the trustees
• the extent to which the charity is able to operate on a proper footing and whether steps need to be undertaken to modify the operating structure and governing document framework of the charity and social activities associated with the charity’s property

The purpose of an inquiry is to examine issues in detail, investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.

A meeting with the one active trustee has already taken place and an order under S84 Charities Act 2011 has been issued to the charity requesting the submission of all outstanding documents by 6 March 2018. To date, the trustee has co-operated fully with the inquiry.

It is the Commission’s policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

The charity’s details can be viewed on the Commission’s online charity search tool.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see the about us page on GOV.UK.
2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.

A spokesperson for the Official Receiver said:

“As part of the ongoing liquidation of the Carillion group, we have reviewed additional public and private sector contracts, as well as core divisions of the business.

“We can confirm that we have safeguarded a further 100 jobs and these roles are linked to public sector contracts. Most staff will be transferring on existing or similar terms, something I will continue to facilitate wherever possible as we work to find new providers for Carillion’s remaining contracts.

“Unfortunately, 452 posts are being made redundant. They cover a variety of roles connected with private and public contracts across different parts of the country, as well as back-office functions.

“We appreciate this will be a difficult time for those who have lost their jobs. Jobcentre Plus’ Rapid Response Service stands ready to support any of these employees by providing advice and information so people can move into a new job as quickly as possible. People who have been made redundant will also be entitled to make a claim for statutory redundancy payments.

“Our efforts are focused on the smooth transfer of Carillion’s contracts to new providers and we will continue to keep Carillion’s workforce updated as these arrangements are finalised.”

• further information about rights in redundancy is available on gov.uk
• continued support by Carillion’s public and private sector customers is enabling as many employees as possible to be retained in the interim until all contracts have been worked through

User feedback identified some errors, so we have corrected those errors and used the opportunity to make some further changes.

The most noticeable change is the document’s structure. We have divided the examination practice content into four individual parts. They are as follows:

• part A: Introduction
• part B: Alphabetical list of examination practice
• part C: Notifications
• part D: Overcoming objections

None of the revisions establishes any major changes in examination practice and procedure.

Later this year we will change the format of the Manual from a PDF format to a website-orientated format to match our Manual of Patent Practice and the Registered Designs Examination Practice Guide.

If you have any feedback please contact the manual editor.

I have today laid before Parliament a departmental minute describing a contingent liability (CL) of £4 million associated with Solum JV.

Solum JV was created in 2008 to help Network Rail (NR) deliver its agreed housing target. Since its formation, the Solum JV has delivered over 200 housing units, has c.200 more under construction (to complete by 2021) and a pipeline of c.1500 further units, subject to planning and other approvals.

This counter-indemnity, for which NR’s CL of £4 million will be matched by its JV partner, Kier, will cover further multiple residential developments being built by the JV, initially at Twickenham and Walthamstow (Phase 2) stations.

The Treasury has approved the proposal in principle. If, during the period of 14 Parliamentary sitting days beginning on the date on which this minute was laid before the House, a member signifies an objection by giving notice of a Parliamentary question or a motion relating to the minute, or by otherwise raising the matter in the House, final approval will be withheld pending an examination of the objection.