Coronavirus: Environment Agency update

News story Coronavirus: Environment Agency update

The Environment Agency’s priority is to protect people and the environment, and to support those we regulate during the coronavirus pandemic.

We are aware communities, businesses and the environment rely on our services. This includes the advice and guidance we offer, our regulatory work which continues to protect the environment, people and wildlife from harm, managing the risks of flooding and coastal erosion, and other roles. We will continue to review the situation in light of further advice from the government and will update you accordingly. In the meantime, we remind you to check the government’s guidance at www.gov.uk/coronavirus. Our staff We remain fully operational, with the majority of our staff working from home. Our remaining frontline teams will be active, where necessary, on the ground tackling priority issues such as flood risk and pollution. All staff, wherever they are working, are following PHE guidance to reduce their risk of either transmitting or contracting coronavirus. Maintaining, operating and repairing our assets is essential to ensure they work when required. Our work will continue where it remains safe to do so and activities comply with PHE advice. We are also ensuring our contractors are aware of site and people restrictions and are following the correct procedures. Offices The Environment Agency has closed most of its offices. Four offices remain open for staff whose work is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home:

• Horizon House - Bristol

• Quadrant 2 - Sheffield

• Templeborough - Rotherham

• 2 Marsham Street - London

Our flood defence work Our flood defence work continues in line with PHE guidance and where it is safe. We are ready to respond to flooding. During coronavirus we continue to maintain and operate our flood and coastal defences to ensure they protect people and property from flooding. We’re also maintaining our assets that support public water supply, industry, infrastructure, food production and the environment. Where work continues, we have ensured that everyone involved has been trained on social distancing and will not put anyone at risk. If the work cannot be done safely, the work will stop. We are also still carrying out inspections and repairs to flood defences damaged by spring storms. We are prioritising our work that has the most impact in terms of protecting lives and livelihoods, including prioritising the most at-risk communities so they can remain resilient. If repairs to major infrastructure assets are disrupted by the impact of coronavirus, we will where possible put in place temporary mitigation for the risk, pending a full repair. All our work is impacted by the controls we and government have put in place. This is likely to mean that completion dates for new projects will slip and other key activities may take place at less regular intervals. We are keeping communities informed of any delays and the action that we are taking to minimise them. Flood warning service Continuing to protect lives and livelihoods through our flood warning service remains fundamental to our work as the nation continues to deal with the effects of coronavirus. In order to protect our flood warning service during this difficult time, we have made some minor changes to the service. In order to safeguard this essential service we will be focussing on the most important warnings, where flooding is expected or where there is a risk to life. We will continue to issue our lowest level of flood warnings – flood alerts - where there is a need to take action but will temporarily stop issuing them where they indicate that there is a very low likelihood of flooding taking place. Our teams will continue to work around the clock to ensure that people have the early warning and safety advice they need to stay safe. Our regulatory role Our priority is to protect people and the environment, and to support those we regulate. We continue to carry out regulatory visits to sites that could cause serious environmental harm where appropriate. For all sites, we are developing ways to continue to regulate during this period, using alternative regulatory approaches such as increasing desk-based compliance activity and remote ways of working. We continue to work closely with businesses and industry to help them meet their legal requirements. We have clearly set out our approach to regulation and enforcement during this difficult time, and have introduced new temporary regulatory position statements (RPSs). RPSs are nationally-applicable public statements that, provided certain circumstances and conditions are met, allow specified activity to be carried out without complying with a particular regulatory requirement. RPSs allow a degree of flexibility while still ensuring regulatory standards are maintained to protect people and the environment. They include clear conditions regarding standards that must be adhered to. Across the country, our teams continue to undertake investigations into environmental offending and prepare legal cases. We will consider the appropriate regulatory response to any unavoidable non-compliance in accordance with our policies and guidance on regulation and enforcement. Coronavirus is not an excuse to operate illegally. We make clear in our approach to regulation and enforcement during the coronavirus that we expect operators to take all reasonable steps to comply with regulatory requirements using contingency plans to help them comply. We continue to enforce regulatory requirements, following the government’s guidance on social distancing. This includes liaising with courts and, wherever possible, continuing with any sentencing cases still outstanding using remote technology to conclude our legal action. We’re also continuing to work with the police to share intelligence about criminal activity and take action against those breaking the law. We absolutely recognise the added financial strain coronavirus is putting on businesses and have written to all our customers to invite them to contact us to discuss payment options if they experience difficulties. Applying for a permit During the Coronavirus pandemic, we are following government advice and our permitting staff are working from home. We’re currently receiving over 700 applications every month, and we’ve contacted all customers with an application in process to update about our working practices. Whilst we’re making every effort to maintain our permitting service, it’s inevitable that there will be some disruption as we work in unprecedented circumstances. We are taking slightly longer than normal to determine permit applications in some of our permitting sectors, but are continuing to adapt our working to reduce these wherever we can and as quickly as possible. A very small number of customers submit applications via post, unfortunately while our buildings are closed we’re unable to access these applications. All post is being stored securely until we return. We’re advising customers to resend their application via email if posted after 18 March 2020 if they can. We’re sorry to customers impacted by this. We’re prioritising plans for accessing the small number of postal applications, and will process complete applications based on the date they were received. However, to avoid delay we advise customers to submit applications via email. Bathing water sampling Continuing to protect people and the environment remains fundamental to our work as the nation continues to deal with the effects of Coronavirus. We have temporarily paused our water sampling work at bathing waters. Pausing sampling at bathing waters will not affect the water quality at bathing waters and our teams will continue to respond to serious pollution incidents. We will continue to publish our daily pollution risk forecasts on our water quality website during this time. Angling and our fisheries In line with updated government guidance, restrictions on angling have been eased as of Wednesday, 13 May. Further guidance is available on the page lifting of restrictions on recreational-fishing. Anglers must fish legally, including having a valid fishing licence and adhering to relevant byelaws. Fishing licences continue to remain on sale. Meanwhile, we continue prioritising our response to reported incidents of serious harm to the environment, subject to local conditions. We are working to achieve the right outcomes for people, public health, and fisheries legislation. Illegal fishing, pollution and incidents that harm the environment should be reported to our 24-hour hotline on 0800 80 70 60, and serious breaches of the coronavirus restrictions should be reported to the police on 101 or via the website of your local police. Our waterways The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for rivers and waterways across the south and east of England and restrictions were lifted on these waterways from 1 June 2020. Teams have completed a thorough inspection of river channels, marked hazards and checked where there is the need for maintenance. People can enjoy trips out on the water keeping to the latest government guidelines. All boaters have been urged to continue to stay 2 metres from others to keep themselves, residents, staff and others safe. To adhere to social distancing there are some changes to the way Environment Agency staff typically provide services and some things may take longer or more space than normal, for example at locks and doing routine maintenance. The latest Government Guidance published by Defra confirms ‘day hire’ of powered and non-powered boats can resume on all waterways but no overnight stays. This lifting of restrictions allows more people to get out and enjoy the water safely. Read our guidance here. Billing The Environment Agency recognises that some customers will be particularly affected by the measures to restrict the impact of the virus. We will consider requests for payment plans if customers experience difficulties paying bills on time. Income from fees and charges ensures the Environment Agency can continue to provide an appropriate level of regulation and services for our customers to ensure the environment and people are protected. Customer contacts During this pandemic the Environment Agency continues to protect people and the environment, working alongside our partners. Please report any pollution incidents on 0800 80 70 60 and stay #floodaware. General enquiries National Customer Contact Centre Email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk Telephone: 03708 506 506 PO Box 544 Rotherham S60 1BY United Kingdom

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