Environment Agency

4. Mrs W complains about the Environment Agency (EA) and what she says was its failure to implement regulatory action on one of its sites. Specifically, she says a composting facility near her home is failings to comply with licensing conditions and the EA is not taking any action.

5. She says since 2021 he home has experienced excessive number of flies and odour in the property, leading to distress and upset causing detriment to enjoyment of life.

6. As an outcome she is seeking service improvements and enforcement action to be carried out by EA.

7. EA has explained under the conditions of the permit, the Environment Agency may request a pest management plan which must be approved and subsequently implemented by the operator.

8. In October 2022 it said there is no approved pest management plan in place at Diggle Green.

9. Investigations by the Environment Agency into fly activity which have been attributed to Diggle Green Farm were carried out in relation to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations in accordance with an internally developed guidance document.

10. It says at that time, it had not been able to substantiate Diggle Green as the source of the fly issue in the area. This means that it cannot confirm whether the reason for the fly numbers experienced were a result of the activity at Diggle Green.

11. In a later response EA explained there was an improved Odour Management Plan in place for the site, this was submitted and approved in February 2020, and has been part the site regulation since the time.

12. It said its priority was to work with the operator to ensure the pest control measures deployed on site were appropriate and supporting documentation has been produced which demonstrates that control.

13. Although, it is not able to respond to every incident it receives, the details of reported amenity issues are logged and used to inform its compliance activity. Any complaints about sites which are regulated by the EA should be reported to its 24-hour incident hotline.

14. In February 2024, EA said the composting site holds an environmental permit, the conditions of which are regulated by the EA. In April 2023 an EA officer substantiated fly activity on site which had the potential to cause risk of migration outside the permit boundary. This visit was undertaken due to an increase in reports received from residents on fly activity in their homes during April.

15. An action from this breach was for the operator of the site to submit a pest management plan to the EA for approval, to ensure appropriate measures are in place to minimise potential off-site impacts.

16. EA said it is continuing to utilise its national pest expert to review the plan, until it considered it had the appropriate pest control measures in place and that these are deployed effectively.

17. Visits to properties across 2023 was conducted by Warrington borough council environment protection team and they have communicated their findings to EA from these visits. It has worked in conjunction with the council to share information and conducted joint visits to site on two occasions in 2023.

18. EA has said it will ensure a newsletter is emailed out to residents via a distribution list to update them on its regulatory work and how they can report incidents of concern to the EA.

EA’s and our role

21. The EA aims to protect and improve the environment, and to promote sustainable development. It delivers the environmental priorities of central government. The Agency works across England and Wales and has regional and local offices.

22. Whilst the EA has powers available to it when dealing with concerns, it is up to the EA’s discretion to determine how and when to use those powers. We are not a regulatory body and cannot override the EA’s decisions simply because we, or someone else, may have made a different decision under the same circumstances. Our role is to ensure that the EA followed a reasonable decision-making process.

Our decision

23. Although, we appreciate and understand Mrs W believes EA have failed to implement regulatory action against the composting site, we are not convinced there is sufficient evidence to say it acted maladminstratively.

24. The composting site has an environmental permit which it needs to adhere, the conditions of which are regulated by the EA.

25. Environmental Agency, site permit and regulations 2016 conditions state;

1.1 General management

1.1.1 The operator shall manage and operate the activities:

• in accordance with a written management system that identifies and minimises risks of pollution, including those arising from operations, maintenance, accidents, incidents, non-conformances, closure and those drawn to the attention of the operator because of complaints; and

(b) using sufficient competent persons and resources.

1.1.2 Records demonstrating compliance with condition 1.1.1 shall be maintained.

1.1.3 Any person having duties that are or may be affected by the matters set out in this permit shall have convenient access to a copy of it kept at or near the place where those duties are carried out.

1.1.4 The operator shall comply with the requirements of an approved competence scheme.

26. The regulations 3.6 (on pests) also state;

3.6.1 The activities shall not give rise to the presence of pests which are likely to cause pollution, hazard or annoyance outside the boundary of the site. The operator shall not be taken to have breached this condition if appropriate measures, including, but not limited to, those specified in any approved pest’s management plan, have been taken to prevent or where that is not practicable, to minimise the presence of pests on the site.

3.6.2 The operator shall:

(d) if notified by the Environment Agency, submit to the Environment Agency for approval within the period specified, a pests management plan which identifies and minimises risks of pollution from pests.

(e) implement the pest’s management plan, from the date of approval, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Environment Agency.

27. It is clear from the information we have seen; EA have considered the concerns raised by Mrs W and other residents and requested the site implement management plans in respect to odour and pest management.

28. Ultimately, we can see there are odour and pest management plan in place at the site following inspections by EA inspectors, following increased reports from residents. It is for the site itself to adhere to the regulations and we cannot criticise EA actions here. It has said it is constantly reviewing the management plan to ensure effective control measures are in place and these are deployed effectively.

29. As such, given the responsibility is on the composting site to adhere to EA regulation and given EA have been actively monitoring the situation we are satisfied it has acted in line with our principles of good administration – Acting proportionately and fairly.

30. Mrs W may feel they have not acted accordingly but this is not enough to say it acted wrongfully and given we cannot override EA’s decision; we have decided to take no further action.

31. Finally, we do appreciate the distress Mrs W has experienced and hope any issues with the composting site will be resolved as quickly as possible.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs W’s complaint about the Environment Agency (EA). We have seen no indication that anything went seriously wrong.

2. We found no indication that the EA acted unreasonably and are satisfied it followed a reasonable decision-making process when acting in this case.

3. We appreciate the level of distress and upset Mrs W has experienced when dealing with EA and understand her frustration with issues she says she is experiencing with the composting facility.