There are ‘significant weaknesses’ in the Environment Agency’s inspections of waste operations and installations, Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) report finds.
The report by the public oversight body for environmental protection in England and Northern Ireland is based on a review of Environment Agency (EA) inspections from 2018 to 2022, which are the most recent available.
It found that many inspections carried out during the period were of ‘poor quality’, and in around one third of cases, policy guidance was not followed.
The report identified ‘significant weaknesses’ in the effectiveness, consistency and oversight of the inspection regime for waste operations and installations in England.
Julie Hill, interim Chair of the OEP, said the report concludes that while the system was designed in good faith, it is ‘no longer working effectively’, and is ‘not sufficiently focused’ on environmental outcomes.
One of the report’s key findings relates to the EA’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that all 97% of sites should be compliant with their permit and rated in the bands ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’. The performance of facilities is rated by the EA on a scale of ‘A’ to ‘F’.
The KPI target has always been met by the EA. However, this figure automatically includes sites that have not been inspected in the reporting period as still being rated in ‘A’, the highest possible band.
The EA also counts band ‘C’ sites as being compliant for the KPI, despite the EA’s own guidance saying they ‘must improve’ to achieve permit compliance.
The report found that, given its current compliance recording practices, the EA can only be confident that around 64% of its sites are compliant.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said the report is based on ‘historic data’ and claimed that the regulator had already put in place ‘stronger insight and clearer outcomes’.
“We are cracking down on persistent poor performers by being more consistent through stronger enforcement, utilising data and intelligence to spot non-compliance earlier, and targeting our officers to where they are needed most,” the spokesperson said.
“We will consider the OEP’s recommendations to support our future regulatory improvements, which includes focusing inspections at the highest risk sites.”
The OEP makes several recommendations that include adopting better performance indicators that reflect compliance, replacing flawed metrics, and presenting data more transparently.
The report also calls for a ‘fundamental redesign’ of the compliance system so it aligns legal duties, policy, planning and on-the-ground inspection work.
One of the final recommendations is for the EA to implement more ‘outcome-focused inspections’, with clearer actions, consistent root cause analysis, and stronger training and oversight of inspectors.
The OEP Interim Chair continued: “The Environment Agency has a critical and challenging role, and we recognise that work is already underway to address issues raised in this report.”
“This report is intended to support that progress by providing an independent assessment of where changes would have the greatest impact.”
