Planning for Sustainable Development: Part 1
Interviewing the Environment Agency
"We are the leading public body for protecting and improving the environment in England and
Wales. It's our job to make sure that air, land and water are looked after by everyone in today's
society, so that tomorrow's generations inherit a cleaner, healthier world."
Sir John Harman, Chairman.
The Environment Agency (EA) was set up by the 1995 Environment Act and currently employs
10,500 staff with an annual budget of £650 million. As a non-departmental public body it is
sponsored largely by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the
National Assembly for Wales (NAW). It aims to provide high quality environmental protection
and improvement in England and Wales through an emphasis on prevention and education, and
then vigorous enforcement where necessary. It also claims to contribute towards the worldwide
environmental goal of sustainable development, as defined by the Bruntland Commission.
The Environment Act of 1995 stated that the functions and duties of the EA were to include:

Compiling information on the pollution of the environment.

Assessing the effects of pollution of the environment.

Investigating the options for mitigating the effects of pollution.

Conservation of the beauty of land and waterways.

Maintenance of fisheries.

Carry out cost-benefit analysis when exercising its powers.

Conservation of water resources.
The EA is one of the most important environmental regulators in England and Wales. Its
functions include the issuing of authorisations, giving advice, inspection and monitoring, and
enforcement. The EA does not cover all aspects of environmental law and services to the
public. Notable amongst the areas that it has no input include flooding from drains, sewers,
streams or ditches; quality or supply of drinking water; and granting planning authority. These
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areas are the responsibility of the local authority, the local water company and the local
planning authority respectively. This last point is particularly pertinent as it means that any
objections it makes can be ignored by local planning authorities if so desired.
The Environment Agency and the West Stevenage Development
In a letter of September 17th 2001, the Environment Agency stated its objections to the
proposed development for the following reasons:
Reason:
Part of the development proposes a sewage storage tank at Elder Way
Flood Storage Reservoir. This would jeopardise the flood storage potential
of the reservoir. It may also create pollution.
Resolution:
Relocate the sewage storage tank elsewhere.
It was noted that the objections were due to the temporary loss of flood storage capacity during
the construction of the sewage storage tank; maintenance of the sewage storage tank and the
provision of a pumping station causing a reduction in the storage capacity of the flood storage
reservoir; and the covering of the sewage storage tank with water in times of flood. In this latter
case, the concern was the risk of pollution due to either infiltration of flood water into the tank or
structural collapse of the tank due to flood water pressure.
Reason:
It is proposed to attenuate the discharge into the public surface water
sewer system to a level of a 1 in 30 year storm. This is not acceptable to
the Environment Agency.
This is due to the fact that the surface water sewer discharges into the
Stevenage Brook. The Stevenage Brook and associated flood alleviation
system throughout the town of Stevenage is exceeded on a regular basis.
This is demonstrated by the Wychdale Flood Storage Reservoir - a
statutory reservoir under the Reservoirs Act 1975 which is on the
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Stevenage Brook, being overtopped. This has occurred on a regular basis
in the last decade. Any additional surface water discharge into this sytem
would exacerbate the flood risk.
Resolution:
Attenuate the surface water discharge into the public surface water sewer
to a 1 in 100 year storm level.
These objections were later removed in a letter of October 2002 where they stated certain
planning conditions that they should like to see met. These were in regard to the Elder Way
Flood Storage Reservoir.
Condition:
Engineering design details of the sewage storage tank at Elder Way,
including the construction methods and program, and calculations
regarding the anticipated hydrostatic pressures exerted on the storage
tank at times of flood, should be submitted to and approved in writing by
the Local Planning Authority before development commences. The tank
shall then only be constructed in accordance with the approved details.
Reason:
To prevent pollution of the water environment
Condition:
Drawings of the proposed compensatory works for the construction of the
tank at Elder Way, including calculations to prove that the mitigation is
adequate in comparison to the amount of flood storage taken up during
the construction and permanent phases, should be submitted to and
approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority prior to the
commencement of construction. The compensatory works shall then be
constructed in accordance with the approved details.
Reason:
To prevent the increased risk of flooding
Condition:
The program of works for the construction of the tank, including details of
the timing of the compensatory excavations and the sheet piling off of the
dry working area should be submitted to and approved in writing by the
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Local Planning Authority, prior to the commencement of construction. The
works shall then only be constructed in accordance with the approved
details.
Reason:
To prevent the increased risk of flooding
Difficulty in the interview process.
Attempting to discuss the proposed West Stevenage development with employees of the
Environment Agency was not an easy process. After initially contacting Andrew Yuill in the
Planning Liaison Department we patiently awaited a response from him, yet none came.
Chasing him up, we discovered that he had contacted several of those that had been involved
in the assessment of aspects of the proposal. He had received three replies from his colleagues
and he recommended that we contact them the following week. The CMI boardroom was
booked for Tuesday 21st January to take advantage of the speakerphone facilities. The following
sections summarise the interviews conducted.
Claire Francis – Development Control Engineer
Ms. Francis was willing to talk to us, but that particular time was inconvenient for her because
she needed to produce an article for publication that afternoon. She suggested that we call her
later in the week.
Ruth Shaw – Environmental Management Officer for Upper Lea (Part 1)
Ms. Shaw was aware that we would be calling at some point, but couldn’t immediately recollect
the West Stevenage project. We found this surprising given the proposed size of the
development. We were satisfied when she offered to read some of the documentation before we
phoned her again in half an hour.
John Moore – Water Resources Manager
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A mistyped telephone number didn’t stop us from getting in touch with Mr Moore! Like Ms.
Shaw before him, he had great trouble remembering his involvement in the assessment of the
West Stevenage development. Mr. Moore’s concerns had been centred on the lack of
information given by the developers. He had requested information regarding how they were to
meet water resources for the development and how they would affect local groundwater. He
considered the concerns to be standard for any development, though were particularly
prominent in this case due to the size of the proposed scheme.
Mr. Moore was able to elaborate on the nature of the EA itself. He explained that it was the
Planning Liaison Office that received the planning application from the developers. Specific
material was then distributed amongst the relevant departments by computer. For Mr. Moore,
the West Stevenage Development had just been another case to assess. He had been able to
use the standard responses used in the computer programme and there had been no need to
customise his responses. This, he said, was to minimise the amount of work that was actually
required. Once each section is complete they are passed back to the Planning Liaison
department who produce a complete document detailing the concerns of each department. Mr.
Moore explained that because he received so many different cases each week, it was difficult to
actually remember any particular project, as was the case here. To me, this exemplifies the way
that the EA operates: its employees often have little understanding of the bigger picture and are
only used for the specific knowledge they possess.
Ruth Shaw – Environmental Management Officer for Upper Lea (Part 2)
The details of this interview are the subject of the report by Miss Valeria Bona and concerned
the Elder Way Flood Storage Reservoir.
Conclusions
The Environment Agency is a vast organisation whose scope is wide-ranging and which
operates by subdividing elements of assessment between specific departments. Its original
attitude towards the West Stevenage development was one of opposition and it objected to the
development largely due to concerns over the proposed Elder Way Water Storage Reservoir.
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However, following more detailed specifications from the developer, these objections were
removed and replaced with conditions which it wished to see met. As the power to grant
planning authority resides in the hands of local planning authorities, the EA has no ability to
enforce these conditions, but it is likely that they would be enforced by the local planners in
Stevenage Borough Council and North Hertfordshire District Council.
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