The
Environment Agency has prosecuted Southern
Water for polluting a pond on a Tunbridge
Wells nature reserve with sewage.
The Environment Agency
has prosecuted Southern Water for polluting
a pond on a Tunbridge Wells nature reserve
with sewage.
Southern Water appeared
at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court on Thursday
5 February and pleaded guilty to the offence
that took place in April last year. The
company was fined £12,000 and ordered
to pay costs of £2,528.
The Court heard that
on 3 April 2008 the Environment Agency was
contacted by a member of the public who
reported there was a problem at the Juniper
Close pumping station in Tunbridge Wells
and that sewage was discharging into Dunners
Pond. The person had tried to report the
pollution incident to Southern Water’s emergency
helpline for half an hour but got no response
from the company.
An Environment Agency
officer immediately contacted Southern Water’s
control room to notify them of the incident
and to confirm they were going to investigate.
During this telephone conversation Southern
Water confirmed that their electronic equipment
had let them know of a pump failure, but
an alarm to notify them that effluent in
storage tanks at the pumping station was
at dangerously high levels had not been
activated.
On arrival at Juniper
Close the Environment Agency officer could
see and smell sewage effluent in the area
which was flowing from the pumping station,
and a Southern Water officer arrived soon
afterwards to reset the pump. It transpired
there had previously been two other problems
the pumping station on 10 March and 1 April
2008, but neither were linked to this pollution
incident.
At Dunners Pond the
Environment Agency officer could see sewage
effluent entering the pond which was black
and contained a small number of dead wildlife
species. Samples taken of the water in the
pond showed that the pollutant was a quarter
of the strength of raw sewage and that ammonia
levels were almost five times a fatal dose
for wildlife.
The pond is also home
to populations of around 60 newts, including
the protected Great Crested Newt species,
and they had to be rescued following this
incident. Fortunately there were only a
few dead fish as a result of the pollution
but the pond itself could take several years
to recover.
Commenting on the case,
Elizabeth Lewis of the Environment Agency
said: “It is disappointing that Southern
Water failed to solve the problems at the
pumping station. As a result a totally avoidable
pollution of an environmentally sensitive
area occurred.”
In mitigation Southern Water entered and
early guilty plea and spent £22,500
fixing the problems at the site. The company
took over the responsibility for the pumping
station in 2006 but after doing so they
had overlooked whether the alarms had been
set correctly.
The Court felt that
the failure of the alarm was a negligent
act by Southern Water but took into account
their early guilty plea.
+ More
Environment Agency objects
to over 6,200 planning applications on grounds
of flood risk in 2007/2008
Local planning authorities
in England granted planning permission for
16 major developments, including some 240
homes and a primary school, despite Environment
Agency objections on the grounds of flood
risk during 2007/08, according to a new
report.
- 16 major developments
granted planning permission against Environment
Agency advice -
Local planning authorities
in England granted planning permission for
16 major developments, including some 240
homes and a primary school, despite Environment
Agency objections on the grounds of flood
risk during 2007/08, according to a new
report published today.
The Environment Agency’s
annual ‘Development and Flood Risk’ report
shows the performance of local planning
authorities in England between April 2007
and March 2008 on planning applications
where the Environment Agency provided advice
on flood risk.
Virtually all (96 per
cent) planning decisions where the Environment
Agency objected were in line with its advice
- the highest ever level of compliance.
However, 16 developments were approved against
Environment Agency advice - up from 13 in
2006/07 - including some 240 homes, a primary
school, offices, apartments, a business
park and a ferry terminal.
The Environment Agency
lodged objections to 6,200 planning applications
on the grounds of flood risk in 2007/2008
up from 4,1000 in 2006/2007. A high proportion
of these objections were removed after negotiation
with developers and local authorities resulted
in modified plans.
The insurance industry
has already said that they may not provide
insurance to certain new developments in
the flood plain if the properties were granted
planning approval against Environment Agency
advice.
Paul Leinster, Chief
Executive of the Environment Agency, said:
"There are already
millions of people at risk from flooding
and this number is set to rise in future
due to the impacts of climate change. We
helped reduce the risk of flooding to some
7,000 extra properties in England in the
six months to September 2007. We're playing
our part in managing the risk to properties
and people, and local authorities have a
crucial part to play by restricting development
in flood plains.
"By working closely
with planning authorities, we have continued
to influence decisions and prevented developments
which would have placed the occupants at
a high risk of flooding. We're pleased that
most councils take our flood risk advice
in relation to planning decisions, but are
concerned that a minority of decisions go
against our advice."
Since 1 October 2006,
the Environment Agency has been a statutory
consultee on all planning applications (other
than minor development) in areas where there
is a risk of flooding, and local planning
authorities must now consult the Environment
Agency before making any decisions on new
development. Since 1 January 2007, the new
Flood Direction has allowed Government to
call-in major applications where local planning
authorities were minded to overrule Environment
Agency advice on flood risk.
Today’s report comes
as the Environment Agency announces how
£700m of funding will be allocated
to help reduce flood risk across England,
up from £650m in 2008/2009. Some of
the projects that will benefit from this
funding include:
• £3.1m investment
in the St Germans pumping station in Norfolk
which, when completed, will protect over
20,000 residential properties and agricultural
land valued at £3.6 billion;
• £4.7m investment
in defence work along the River Thames at
Deptford and Bermondsey in London, protecting
an estimated 33,800 homes when complete;
• £3.4m investment
to upgrade the Hull Tidal Surge Barrier,
which protects 17,000 properties from flooding.
Notes to editors:
The High Level Target
5 (HLT5) report ‘Development and Flood Risk
2007/08 is available on the ’Environment
Agencys website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/33704.aspx
The ‘Development and
Flood Risk’ report found that:
• The number of planning
applications objected to by the Environment
Agency on flood risk grounds rose to 6,232
in 2007/08 from to 4,1000 in 2006/07.
• Where the Environment
Agency objected on flood risk grounds and
where Local Planning Authorities (LPAs)
have advised us of the final outcome, 96.6
per cent of 3689 decisions were in line
with Environment Agency advice
• In 2007/8, only 34%
of the objections on planning applications
that we know the outcome of were ‘sustained’
i.e. were not resolved by negotiation or
withdrawn by developers. This is a reduction
from 54% in 2006/7.
• The number of major
applications granted planning permission
against Environment Agency advice rose slightly
from 13 in 2006/07 to 16 last year. Of these,
six cases relate to development in areas
of the highest probability of river or coastal
flooding (flood zone 3), two cases were
in both flood zone 2 (medium probability)
and flood zone 3, while eight were in flood
zone 1 (low probability) where development
may give rise to flooding elsewhere.
• ‘Major’ developments
are those in which the number of dwellings
to be constructed is 10 or more, or the
site area is equal to or greater than 0.5
Ha. Non-residential developments are defined
as major if they involve a floor space equal
to or greater than 1000 m2, or a site area
equal or greater than 1 Ha
• Many developers are
still ignoring the requirement for flood
risk assessments (FRAs) to accompany planning
applications. The lack of a satisfactory
FRA accounted for 67 per cent of all Environment
Agency objections.
• LPA performance in
providing decision notices to the Environment
Agency has increased slightly this year,
but still only represents 59 per cent of
the 6,232 applications initially objected
to.
Full details of all
approved planning applications which went
against Environment Agency advice can be
found in the HLT5 report on the Environment
Agency website.
