The Environment Agency recently released its corporate scorecard for 2022-2023 quarter three, which spans from 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022. The scorecard revealed an increase in the number of high-risk illegal waste sites compared to the previous quarter.
Specifically, the number of active high-risk illegal waste sites rose by 10, reaching a total of 190, exceeding the ceiling target of 185. This increase caused the scorecard’s status to shift from green to amber after several quarters of the former.
Although this increase may suggest a decline in performance, it is more likely that the data is now catching up with the actual situation on the ground. The Environment Agency has concentrated on risk-based fieldwork and hired additional officers, leading to an uptick in the number of substantiated high-risk illegal waste sites. However, there is still a significant backlog of reports of illegal waste sites that have yet to be verified, suggesting that the actual number of illegal waste sites is likely higher than what is reported.
Furthermore, the Environment Agency faces ongoing recruitment challenges and has experienced a loss of knowledge and experience due to staff turnover. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of sites being stopped, despite efforts to increase staff numbers. Therefore, these figures should be interpreted with caution, as ongoing resource pressures and the backlog of reported sites suggest that the reported numbers are likely an underestimate.
Source www.gov.uk
