The consultation will run for eight weeks and will close on 8 October. It seeks views on when penalties are used, how they are calculated and the appeals process.
According to the Agency, the changes will ensure regulators have the right tools to “drive compliance across a range of sectors”, strengthening enforcement and holding all who hold environmental permits to greater account. It said this would include waste operators and incinerators.
‘Polluter pays’
Minister for environmental quality and resilience, Rebecca Pow, said: “Polluters must always pay – by lifting the cap on these sanctions, we are simultaneously toughening our enforcement tools and expanding where regulators can use them.
”There are clear provisions in the Sentencing Council guidelines that will ensure the level of penalties levied are proportionate to the degree of environmental harm and culpability.
“These include safeguards to ensure the operator’s ability to pay, the size of the operators, and the degree of responsibility and harm, amongst others – all of which are taken into account when imposing a penalty. The penalties will only be applied where it is shown beyond reasonable doubt that an offence has occurred.”
These new enforcement powers will be an extra tool in our armoury to hold polluters to account
- John Leyland, Environment Agency executive director
Method
The Agency said the move offers regulators a quicker method of enforcement than “lengthy and costly criminal prosecutions” – although the most serious cases will continue to be taken through criminal proceedings.
In the consultation, the regulator also said it will be expanding variable monetary penalties to the Environmental Permitting Regulations, which will mean that activities regulated under an environmental permit will also be included. This includes power generation and other combustion processes and the storage, treatment, use and disposal of waste, including scrap metal.
Environment Agency executive director John Leyland added: “These new enforcement powers will be an extra tool in our armoury to hold polluters to account.
“They will act as a further deterrent – boosting compliance across a range of sectors and helping us provide stronger protection to the environment, communities and nature.”
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