Some of these sites, the Committee said, were known to the EA but not disclosed during its recent inquiry.
Baroness Sheehan, who led the Lords inquiry into serious and organised waste crime, said the Committee had been “increasingly alarmed” by media reports of major illegal waste sites emerging across the country.
The new revelations, she said, cast fresh doubt on the EA’s transparency and its handling of a problem that peers have described as posing severe environmental, public-health and community impacts.
Baroness Sheehan commented: “Since the Environment Agency gave evidence to our inquiry into serious and organised waste crime we have become increasingly alarmed by the reporting of new waste crime sites in the media which, we now know, the Environment Agency knew about but failed to reference in evidence provided to us.”
“We are disappointed that these sites were not deemed necessary to bring to the committee’s attention.
“I have therefore written to Alan Lovell and Philip Duffy to seek clarification on a number of concerns the Committee has regarding the Environment Agency’s awareness, response and action relating to these sites.”
When asked about the claim that the EA failed to bring new waste crimes sites to the committee’s attention, an EA spokesperson commented: “These claims are inaccurate. We have engaged with Baroness Sheehan’s inquiry in good faith and have responded comprehensively to the questions posed to us.
“We will continue to work closely with the Committee on their further questions.
“The Environment Agency is relentlessly pursuing waste criminals – last year alone our dedicated teams successfully stopped activity at 743 illegal waste sites.
“We take robust action every day to shut down illegal operations that blight our country, protecting communities and our environment.”
Lords inquiry into waste crime
During the inquiry, the EA informed the Lords Committee that alongside the high-profile Hoads Wood site in Kent, it was aware of six other illegal waste sites of similar magnitude:
- Burnley, Lancashire (two sites)
- Northwich, Cheshire
- Sittingbourne, Kent
- Camborne, Cornwall
- Fakenham, Norfolk
However, since evidence sessions concluded, additional large-scale sites have been reported in the media, including locations in Kidlington (Oxfordshire), Wigan, and Wadborough (Worcestershire).
The committee called for the Government to urgently commission an independent review of its current approach to waste crime in a letter sent to Emma Reynolds, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
In the letter, the committee stated that it was “deeply concerned about the demonstrable inadequacy of the current approach to tackling waste crime”, citing multiple failures by the EA, the ineffectiveness of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and the lack of interest shown by police.
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