A Cambridgeshire waste wood processing company has been sentenced for failing to manage the risk of fire and containment of dust at its site, and causing dust emissions that impacted on neighbouring businesses and a fishing lake.

East Anglian Resources Ltd, based at Benwick Road Industrial Estate in Whittlesey, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court to breaching 2 conditions of its environmental permit. This allowed it to store and treat up to 30,000 tonnes of waste wood for recycling per year.

The company was sentenced in its absence at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court on 17 June 2021 and fined £26,800, as well as being ordered to pay costs of £29,110.18 and a victim surcharge of £170. District Judge Sheraton found the company was reckless in committing the offences, which continued over an extensive period of time.

Environment Agency officers visited the waste wood recycling site on more than 30 occasions after the permit was issued in 2016 to November 2018, and found that piles of waste wood were frequently too large and too close together, posing a serious risk of fire by spontaneous combustion. The company had a Fire Prevention Plan in place but persistently failed to comply with it. The Environment Agency suspended the permit 3 times to force the company to comply, but this had limited effect.

In addition, officers noted that dusty material was allowed to accumulate and that the dust was not suppressed. Dust escaped the site on many occasions, affecting people working at neighbouring businesses and visitors to a nearby fishing lake.

When interviewed, James Tribe, the director of the company at the time, explained that the company relied heavily on one customer taking 80% or more of its waste. On occasions when that customer’s site was closed, waste built up on the site in huge piles. He accepted that waste piles were massive but said they had never had a fire. He said they had tried to find alternative outlets and had done the best they could.

Mr Tribe accepted that their activities created dust but felt they managed it properly under their Dust Management Plan.

Since the prosecution began, East Anglian Resources Ltd has abandoned its site at Benwick Road Industrial Estate and the company has gone into liquidation.

Claire Parker, Senior Environment Officer with the Environment Agency, said:

Environment Agency officers and I have tried to work with East Anglian Resources Ltd over a number of years, to improve its operations and minimise its impact on neighbouring businesses, residents and the local environment.

Unfortunately, despite our advice and guidance, warnings and temporary suspension of its permit, the company has continued to cause dust and litter nuisance to their neighbours, and to operate in a manner that presents an unacceptable fire risk.

Taking a prosecution is always our last resort, but in this case we felt that a prosecution was in the public interest due to the significant, and prolonged, negative impact this company has had on its neighbours and the environment.

East Anglian Resources Ltd pleaded guilty to the flowing offences:

• Between 24 April 2017 to 17 November 2018 you, being the operator of an Environmental Permit reference EPR/BB3802CP for a regulated facility on land at Yard 1, 35 Benwick Road, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire PE7 2HD, failed to comply with Condition 1.1.1(a) of the said Permit by failing to manage and operate the activities in accordance with a management system that identifies and minimises the risks of pollution, including those arising from operations, maintenance, accidents, incidents, non-conformances, closure and those drawn to the attention of the operator as a result of complaints.

Contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

• Between 3 July 2017 and 12 September 2018 you, being the operator of an Environmental Permit reference EPR/BB3802CP for a regulated facility on land at Yard 1, 35 Benwick Road, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire PE7 2HD, failed to comply with Condition 3.1.1 of the said Permit in that emissions of substances, namely wood dust, caused pollution and you failed to take appropriate measures to prevent or where that is not practicable, to minimise those emissions.

Contrary to Regulation 38(2) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.

The social care sector is being celebrated for their incredible work, as the Managing Director of a Domiciliary Care Provider business has been confirmed as the first recipient of the new Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care award.

Camille Leavold, the first award winner, has 25 years hands on experience in the sector, is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Abbots Care Ltd. Camille has been awarded the gold award, which recognises outstanding achievements and performance demonstrated by a nurse or social care worker in their sphere of practice.

Camille started Abbots Care along with her mother and sister in 1995 to care for people who live at home and are elderly, or physically disabled or who have a learning disability. The service supports service users in their right to lead normal lives living in their own homes.

Thanks to development and oversight from Camille, Abbots Care now supports almost 1,000 people who are cared for at home and employs 500 care workers.

Camille is being recognised for her work throughout the pandemic to develop schemes of work to help counter the effects of the pandemic on service users and staff, to help support the NHS, to assist partner organisations and to offer crucial leadership and support to staff.

Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, Professor Deborah Sturdy said:

I am thrilled to announce the first Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care award is going to someone who has put so much hard-work and dedication into developing a service to provide care for those who need it most.

Camille continues to be an inspiring leader to all those around her and across the homecare sector nationally and has helped develop staff to become managers themselves thanks to her support and coaching.

I look forward to recognising more exceptional people like Camille who are shining examples of the very best our social care sector has to offer.

Camille Leavold, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Abbots Care Ltd, said:

I am sincerely delighted and grateful to have received this award. I love working to help support society’s most vulnerable people by providing them with the support they need to remain living at home.

I am also really thrilled that Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse for Adult Care and the Department of Health and Social Care is working so hard to shine a light on and bring recognition to, the valuable and vital work of the UK’s home care workforce.

Specifically, Camille has been recognised for creating a learning management system, clear career pathways and a Leadership Academy within Abbots Care to support rising stars within the organisation to develop managers.

During the pandemic, Camille supported her teams by cohorting care workers into specialist “COVID” teams, whose role was solely to support recipients of homecare with symptoms or a positive diagnosis of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Those who volunteered to join these teams received advanced, intensive training in infection prevention and control from the local Clinical Commissioning Group and were placed on special rotas which ensured they had comfort breaks.

Minister for Care Helen Whately said:

I want to offer big congratulations to Camille, who is hugely deserving of this first award.

The social care workforce is full of inspiring leaders, especially those who have helped and supported staff during one of the most challenging years the care sector has ever faced.

I look forward to seeing more people recognised by Professor Sturdy for their exceptional efforts within the sector with our new Adult Social Care awards.

The Adult Social Care Awards are the first of its kind for adult social care and are open to the workforce from all settings and parts of the sector.

The awards will be on an application basis, with individuals awarded throughout the year.

• Abbots Care is a strategic lead provider for homecare in Hertfordshire and achieved an Outstanding rating from CQC in March 2020. They are accredited by the British Standards Institution for quality systems and by Skills for Care for their training.
• Nominations are considered by a panel of NHS and adult social care chief nursing officers and adult social care sector representatives.
• The gold award recognises outstanding achievements and performance demonstrated by a nurse or social care worker in their sphere of practice. This may be clinical practice, education, research or leadership. The award recognises the exceptional contribution by an individual who has a distinguished career in nursing or social care.
• The silver award recognises performance that goes above and beyond the expectations of the everyday role that the nurse or social care worker is expected to perform. Again, this could be demonstrated in education, research, patient and carer experience, leadership, tackling diversity and health inequalities, and could be awarded to either an individual or a team.
• The awards will not be limited to registered nurses and will be extended to include all carers across all care settings, not only care homes.
• Applications for this new award to recognise exceptional practice in adult social care workforce are available as a form which should be supported by 2 signatories.

The Environment Agency has worked in partnership with Bradford City Council, Friends of Bradford Beck and the Wild Trout Trust to complete a river restoration project on an urbanised stretch of Bradford Beck in Shipley since 2018.

A range of measures have been introduced to improve the natural ecology and biodiversity of the beck and surrounding woodland.

Rolls of natural fibre have been attached to the edges of the beck to help establish riverside plants and create varied habitats for fish and invertebrate species. Together with new planting near the beck, this will help slow the flow of water into the channel, which can play a part in reducing water quality problems and flood risk downstream.

The beck is set in a deep channel and is difficult to reach from the pavements above, so a new path has been built to allow public access down to the river where people can enjoy the local wildlife including woodland birds, herons, ducks and fish.

New native trees, shrubs and wildflowers and bird and bat boxes alongside the beck will create better habitat for birds and other species. In addition, new trees will help tackle climate change.

In 2019 and 2020, weirs and structures under road bridges at four locations were modified with wooden baffles which slow the flow and increase the depth of water to help fish including trout, bullheads, stone loaches minnows and eels to swim upstream more easily from the River Aire.

Ineke Jackson, project manager at the Environment Agency said:

We’re excited to create more room for nature in this very urbanised section of Bradford Beck. As it flows through Shipley, the beck is enclosed in very steep banks. These works aim to let the beck flow more naturally within the available space and help both people and wildlife make the most of their local river.

We’re now making plans with our partners to further improve the environment of Bradford Beck and its tributaries in the coming years.

Andrew Mindham, project manager at Bradford City Council said:

We are very pleased that the planned works are now complete. This marks the final year of a three-year programme to restore some of the ecological value of Bradford Beck that had been lost as a result of human activity over many years.

A range of measures have been implemented to improve the biodiversity of the beck and surrounding woodland. The area has been made more attractive for local residents with construction of a path to the beckside.

Although the project has come to a close, the project partners are looking to make more improvements in future years. They will be working together on a section of the beck further upstream next to Valley Road, along with other works to improve habitat and water quality in the catchment.

The main funder of this project is the Environment Agency, with additional funding from Bradford Council and the EU’s BEGIN (Blue Green Infrastructure through Social Innovation) fund. It has been supported by local expertise and volunteering by Friends of Bradford Beck, and technical advice, fish pass construction and monitoring by the Wild Trout Trust.