The boss of the Environment Agency has hit back at “unfair” accusations of incompetence after a cross-party group of peers said the regulator and other agencies were failing to tackle a surge in waste crime.
In a report released on Tuesday, the Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee warned that organised crime gangs are illegally dumping millions of tonnes of waste across the countryside every year.
The committee identified incompetence at the Environment Agency as a factor in the growing crisis.
But Philip Duffy, the agency’s chief executive, hit back at this statement when quizzed about the report by MPs later on Tuesday.
Appearing before the Commons Environment Committee, he said: “I think it’s very unfair on my hardworking staff to be accused of incompetence.
“They are not incompetent. They are doing a very good job in very challenging circumstances.
“We are turning round the situation on waste crime and we’re very proud of our record on it in the last few years.”
Mr Duffy argued that the Lords report itself was largely “fair and balanced” and did not match the headlines.
“We totally recognise this is a deteriorating position across the country,” he said.
“We have moved at remarkable speed over the last three years to tackle waste crime in all sorts of areas.”
Mr Duffy said the report acknowledges a lot of the Environment Agency’s work, citing progress in areas such as prosecutions, seizing proceeds of crime, accelerating work with law enforcement partners and tackling illegal waste sites.
But he said: “There are also things in that report that we would disagree with.
“It is completely untrue that we prioritise compliance over non-compliance. That is a complete misreading of the situation.”
Asked about how authorities will deliver results on tackling the problem, Mr Duffy said the agency is getting better at closing illegal waste sites faster while more serious prosecutions are currently taking place.
He also said the Government is clamping down on leaks in the waste system that can be exploited by crime groups, and the incoming tracking system will help to hold those mismanaging waste to account.
“I do not think my very excellent, hardworking waste team should be ashamed of their progress, but a lot more to do,” he said.
Later, Mr Duffy was asked about Hoads Wood in Kent, a protected wood where more than 30,000 tonnes of household and construction waste were illegally dumped.
Challenged on the perceived slow response from the Environment Agency to act, he claimed the regulator “moved quite swiftly” to shut the site after the seriousness of the situation was brought to its attention.
But he was admonished by the committee when he was unable to say when agency inspectors first visited the site, promising to write to the MPs with the details.
Labour MP Helena Dollimore said: “We would expect the chief executive of the Environment Agency – it’s such a high-profile case, it’s had huge media attention, it’s obviously been called out in the House of Lords report – to be across when inspectors were sent on site in this case and what went wrong so we can stop it happening in other cases.”
It comes after the Lords committee called on the Government to set up an independent root and branch review of serious and organised waste crime.
Committee chairwoman Baroness Sheehan said: “During our inquiry we heard that over 38 million tonnes of waste (enough to fill Wembley Stadium 35 times) is being illegally dumped each year, mainly by established organised crime groups involved in drugs, firearms, money laundering and modern slavery.
“Despite the scale and seriousness of the crimes, raised by the members of the public in many cases, we have found multiple failings by the Environment Agency and other agencies, from slow responses to repeated public reports (as in the case of Hoads Wood, Kent) through to a woeful lack of successful convictions.”
