The Environment Agency has been given a red forecast, which means it is unlikely to meet its 2018 financial year target to reduce the number of high risk illegal waste sites in England. However, it expects to see improvements in the next quarter.
The ‘corporate scorecard’ ranks a range of targets the Environment Agency has to meet, operating a traffic light score system with Red being the least likely to meet the yearly targets set and green the most.
The Q2 statistics for the year showed that the number of high risk illegal sites increased for the third consecutive quarter to 262, rising from 246 in Q1 and 240 in Q4 of 16/17. This was put down to a backlog in the reporting process which led to the figures being revised upwards. The target for the year is 223.
As part of the statistics release, the EA said the figures are likely to improve in the next quarter and the figures do not reflect the work being done to clamp down on illegal sites. “We both stopped more existing sites and found fewer new sites in Q2 but this did not result in a reduction in the number of active high risk sites compared to that reported last quarter.
“This apparent anomaly is caused by retrospective work to assess site status and update records accordingly, especially for new sites. As a result numbers in previous quarters are revised upwards.”
The EA added that the backlog of reports has now been largely assessed and it expects and improvement in the next quarter.
Locations
The map was generated by Ordnance Survey for the EA and showed that London and the North West had the most high risk illegal sites
The EA pledged to develop enforcement strategy for waste to help embed alternative approaches to reducing levels of waste crime, and gave a deadline of the 30th June 2018 to do this. It also said it has changed procedures, requiring sites to be assessed quicker, which should reduce revised statistics.
As shown in the map, the most high risk illegal sites were located in London and Hertfordshire. Other areas in the North West also had a high proportion of the 262 sites.
Budget
The total expenditure in Q2 was £510 million, against a budget of £566 million which was 90% of the Q2 budget. The EA is measured on a percentage of the budget invested, with a yearly target of 100%.
In Q1, the Agency went 4% over budget which brings the total to date of 43% of its overall yearly budget, which was described as a “healthy start” by the EA. This was up 1% on last year.
Red/Green forecasts
The EA is on course to meet its targets to reduce its carbon footprint, respond to all planning applications within 21 days as well as others, including providing a safe place to work for employees and issues around drinking water.
As well as the number of illegal sites, it was given a red forecast with regards to diversity in the office, a percentage of staff which feel “confident in the role” and other environmental issues such as flood defences.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
