#environment-agency

#environment-agency

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.