West Midlands company gives £100,000 to Nature Recovery Project
The Environment Agency has accepted an Enforcement Undertaking from a West Midlands waste operator following a fire that occurred in September 2022.
Heathland is a key habitat that the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project will restore and connect. Credit: Defra
- Environment Agency accepts Enforcement Undertaking from Axil Integrated Services Ltd
- Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project benefits from donation
- Company admits failures and carries out repair work
Axil Integrated Services Ltd offered £100,000 to a local wildlife project following the fire at their Cannock site.
In 2022 there was an intense but short-lived fire. As a result, the water used to put out the fire, was contaminated but was contained on the site and removed.
Since then the EA has worked with the waste operator, Axil Integrated Services, to agree remedial works.
As part of that agreement the company has offered £100,000 to a partnership of organisations who deliver local nature projects.
Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project
The Common Lizard is one of the native species that will benefit from the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project. Credit: Natural England/Allan Drewitt
The money has been donated to the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country towards their Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project.
It is one of 12 nature recovery projects across England.
Extending across 12,000 ha on the fringes of the West Midlands conurbation, Purple Horizons is creating a nature-rich corridor between Cannock Chase Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Sutton Park National Nature Reserve (NNR).
This will help the area’s reptiles, birds and pollinators.
Environment Agency officers said the company had co-operated fully following the incident, submitting a full incident report and statements admitting their failures within two days and carrying out repair work.
Graham Aberley, the lead investigator for the Environment Agency, said:
“Enforcement Undertakings allow polluters to positively address and restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents.
“The Environment Agency is increasingly using this method of enforcement for suitable cases to restore the environment, improve practices of the offending company and avoid longer criminal court cases. However, we will prosecute in appropriate cases.
“As a result of the Enforcement Undertaking the Environment Agency has decided not to pursue any possible prosecution or other sanction for an environmental offence which may have been committed.
“Please report any environmental issues to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.”
Chloe Hardman, project manager for the Purple Horizons Nature Recovery Project at Natural England, said:
“We are glad that this funding is being made available to benefit nature in the area between Cannock Chase and Sutton Park.
“It will make a real difference to our partners at wildlife charities and local councils, who are working to create a healthier environment for nature and people.
“We are currently developing the set of projects that will benefit from the funding and these will be announced in due course.”
More information on Purple Horizons: https://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/purplehorizons
What is an Enforcement Undertaking?
An Enforcement Undertaking is available to the Environment Agency (EA) as an alternative sanction to prosecution or monetary penalty for dealing with certain environmental offences.
It is a legally binding voluntary agreement proposed by a business (or an individual) when the EA has reasonable grounds to suspect that an environmental offence has occurred.
Enforcement Undertakings for environmental offences were introduced under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 and the Environmental Civil Sanctions (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010.
Accepting an Enforcement Undertaking is always at the discretion of the EA.
But if accepted enables firms and individuals who have damaged the environment or operated outside of legislative requirements to offer to complete actions which will address the cause and effect of their offending, including making a payment to an appropriate project.
EUs can be offered for offences including polluting rivers, breaching permit conditions designed to protect communities, or failing to register and comply with recycling/recovery obligations. The Environment Agency then carefully considers whether the actions offered by the offender are acceptable.
Why use Enforcement Undertakings?
- Businesses will voluntarily secure compliance now and in the future, without attracting a criminal record.
- The environment, local community and those directly impacted by the offending can benefit through actions being offered in an EU.
- They allow the EA to deal with the less intentional and polluting offending in a more proportionate way than prosecution through the criminal courts.
The Environment Agency reserves the right to prosecute, where offenders fail to comply with the terms of an Enforcement Undertaking offer.
Updates to this page
Published 20 August 2024Last updated 20 August 2024 + show all updates
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The title of the press release has been amended
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First published.