Lucy
Harding - 11-Apr-2008 - The Environment
Agency is showing its support this weekend
at the Sikh festival Vaisakhi in Gravesend,
Kent. Representatives will be taking part
in the parade tomorrow (Saturday 12 April)
and helping increase flood risk awareness
for local residents.
Gravesend has a large
Sikh community and one of its most celebrated
and important holy days is Vaisakhi. The
festival is marked with processions through
the streets of the town which form an important
part of Sikh culture and religious celebrations.
There are approximately
2,500 properties at risk from flooding in
the Gravesham Borough Council Area. Currently
only 20% are registered to receive warnings
from the Environment Agency’s Flood Warnings
Direct service. Anyone can check whether
they live in a flood risk area by visiting
the Environment Agency website or phoning
Floodline on 08459 881188. If your home
is at risk of flooding, you can sign up
to receive flood warnings by telephone,
mobile, fax or pager.
Carole Robertson, Regional
Diversity Manager for the Environment Agency
said:
“This is our second
year of participation in the celebrations
in Gravesend. Vaisakhi marks the founding
of the Sikh religion and is a major celebration
for the community. Many thousands come along
to watch the colourful parade and enjoy
the happy atmosphere.
“A small group of staff
will be walking in the parade on 12 April,
with our vehicle advertising the Floodline
number. A significant number of the ethnic
community in Gravesend live within the floodplain
but may be unaware of the risks of flooding.
This is a great opportunity for us to get
our message across to them about being prepared.”
+ More
Waste trader ten times
over licence limit
Rob Walsh - 16-Apr-2008
- A Leeds waste trader handling ten times
the legal limit of his environmental permit
was given a conditional discharge for 12
months at Leeds Magistrates Court yesterday,
15 April.
Terence George Sandham
of North Terrace, Yeadon, Leeds, trading
as Aireborough Waste Traders of Hallam Street,
Guiseley was also ordered to pay costs of
£1,500 to the Environment Agency,
which brought the case.
Paul Harley, prosecuting
for the Environment Agency, told the court
that because the site was very close to
homes Aireborough Waste Traders’ waste management
licence restricted the maximum amount of
waste that could be on site at any time
to 36 cubic metres, and the waste allowed
through the site for processing in any one
day to 80 cubic metres.
Environment Agency officers
had found in excess of 36 cubic metres onsite
on 3 June 2005 and 9 May 2006. Following
both of those occasions the site’s waste
management licence was suspended.
Following a complaint
officers attended the site on 1 July 2006
and found an estimated 360 cubic metres
of waste, many times over the limit for
the site.
Mr Harley told the court
that amount of waste should never have been
allowed on the site in the first place and
Mr Sandham had shown little regard for the
conditions of his licence, or for the people
who lived nearby, in allowing his yard to
be so grossly over capacity. The solution
would have been to apply to the Environment
Agency to amend his licence terms or simply
to comply with the existing conditions.
In mitigation it was
said that there had been no trouble since
this incident and that Mr Sandham has varied
his licence to allow more standing waste
and avoid problems of this nature in future.
