#environment-agency

#environment-agency

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

A portion of the land dubbed the UK's worst illegal waste dump is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, the King's extensive private portfolio of properties and estates. The waste site in Bickershaw, Wigan, is part of the UK's mounting crisis of illegal dumping. But the Duchy has said due to an ancient feudal legal framework from more than 700 years ago, it is in effect exempt from cleaning up the site, according to an investigation by Channel 4 News.

Fining English water companies for spilling raw sewage will soon become quicker and easier, the government has said. New proposals would see automatic fines of up to 20,000 issued for some minor offences and make it simpler to punish more serious ones. In recent years data from the water industry's own monitoring equipment has shown how frequently rules are broken around sewage spills. But the regulator, the Environment Agency, has by its own admission struggled to act.

Ministers have told officials at the Environment Agency to wave through planning applications with minimal resistance, as part of a major regulatory shakeup designed to increase economic growth and plug the government's financial hole. Officials at the agency say they have been told to do as little as legally possible to prevent housing applications from being approved, with the government also drafting in senior advisers from the housing department to speed up the process.

Emails from the Environment Agency reveal the agency's concerns over water companies' lax attitudes towards sludge fertiliser, likening it to fly-tipping on agricultural land.