Malcolm George Holmes of Vicarsholme Close was due to stand trial on 9 January 2018 at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on charges that he failed to supply paperwork concerning the removal of waste. He pleaded guilty and was fined £990 with £2,010 costs.
Prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, Chris Bunting told the court that in 2016 Environment Agency officers were investigating illegal waste activities on land at Sheepfolds Road, Sunderland, close to the Stadium of Light.
Acting as a property consultant, Holmes had found a tenant for the land on behalf of the landlord. The tenant went on to illegally dump and burn mixed waste on the site.
In May 2016, the landowner was given four weeks to clear the waste after it was abandoned by the tenant. During a meeting with officers, Holmes, who continued to act on behalf of the landowner, was given clear instructions that he must retain all waste transfer notes. Waste transfer notes provide proof that waste is disposed of legally via a licensed operator.
Although the site was cleared of waste, Holmes failed to supply the waste transfer notes, didn’t respond to a statutory notice requesting the missing documentation and, in court, Holmes admitted he never had the paperwork. The location of the waste, and whether it was legally disposed of, remains unknown.
Rachael Caldwell from the Environment Agency said:
Environmental laws are there to protect communities and the environment from pollution. Businesses getting rid of waste have a legal duty of care to show their waste has been correctly and legally disposed of.
We hope this case demonstrates the importance of environmental compliance. Anyone who breaks the rules will be pursued, and where repeated or significant breaches are found, we will prosecute.
In December, the former tenant of the site pleaded guilty to his part in the case and was ordered to pay a total of £1,730 in fines & costs.
This Order, which comes into force on 1st February 2018, provides that the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is specified for the purpose of section 33 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson travelled to Brussels today (11th January) for high-level meetings focused on the Iran nuclear deal. He was joined in his discussions by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.
Speaking ahead of the meetings, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:
The UK has always been clear: the Iran nuclear deal is a crucial agreement that makes the world safer. It is vital that we continue to work with our European partners to preserve the Iran deal, and with it the security and prosperity it is bringing to the people of Iran and the world. It is those shared interests which will drive our discussions in Brussels.
Of course there are areas where we disagree with Iran, not least on its destabilising regional activity and its ballistic missile programme. This will be an important part of our conversation.
I will be making it clear to Foreign Minister Zarif, on the subject of the recent protests in Iran, that the right to peaceful demonstration within the law is central to any truly thriving society. I will also raise all of our Iranian dual-national consular cases.
The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has opened a new statutory inquiry into Hope House School Limited, registered charity number 1121132. The investigation was opened on 9 October 2017.
The charity’s objects are to advance the education of children who suffer from neurological and psychological conditions such as Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, autistic spectrum disorders, Asperger’s syndrome and Dyspraxia.
The Commission conducted a books and records inspection following an anonymous complaint which raised concerns about the charity’s governance and administration.
The visit raised a number of regulatory concerns and the Commission has therefore opened a statutory inquiry to examine the governance, management and administration of the charity. The inquiry will focus particularly on whether:
the trustees have exercised sufficient oversight and control of the charity
the financial controls of the charity are adequate and its funds have been properly expended solely in furtherance of its charitable objects
potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions have been properly managed
there has been any unauthorised trustee benefit
The Commission has also exercised temporary and protective powers to restrict the transactions that the charity can enter into to ensure that any funds expended are only in furtherance of the charity’s objects and closely monitored.
The Commission stresses that opening an inquiry is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing. The purpose of an inquiry is to examine issues in detail and investigate and establish the facts so that the regulator can ascertain whether there has been misconduct or mismanagement; establish the extent of the risk to the charity’s property, beneficiaries or work; and decide what action needs to be taken to resolve the serious concerns, if necessary using its investigative, protective and remedial powers to do so.
It is the Commission’s usual policy, after it has concluded an inquiry, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were. Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.
Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.
The Commission’s decision to announce the opening of a statutory inquiry is based on whether it is in the public interest to do so and with consideration of our objective to increase public trust and confidence in charities.
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Summary
At about 04:25 hrs on Tuesday 17 October 2017, a maintenance train that was clearing leaf debris from the track, hit a tree just north of Markinch station, Fife. The debris from the tree disabled the train’s braking system. The train came to a stop before running away backwards for a distance of about 4.7 miles (7.5 km). The train crew on board made an emergency call to the signaller before jumping off the train, suffering minor injuries.
The train eventually came to a stop at Thornton North junction after running backwards and forwards between two adjacent gradients a total of nine times.
The brakes were fully released when debris from the tree operated the release mechanisms on the brake system distributors underneath both of the vehicles in the train.
The driver was unable to reapply the brakes because the debris from the tree had also separated all three of the brake pipes between the two vehicles in the train.
Recommendations
The RAIB has made two recommendations to Network Rail. The first addresses the risk of a runaway being initiated by debris on the track causing multiple disruptions to the braking system on this type of train. The second recommendation addresses the possibility that similar risks might be present for other short formation trains that operate on its infrastructure.
Notes to editors
The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.
RAIB operates, as far as possible, in an open and transparent manner. While our investigations are completely independent of the railway industry, we do maintain close liaison with railway companies and if we discover matters that may affect the safety of the railway, we make sure that information about them is circulated to the right people as soon as possible, and certainly long before publication of our final report.
“We can confirm that the Ministry of Justice has referred the case of Antoni Imiela for an parole review. The review is following the standard 6 month process for all indeterminate sentence prisoners and will be reviewed on the papers in the first instance. The review may be concluded on the papers or alternatively it may be directed to an oral hearing.”
Highways England today renewed its focus on design with the launch of a set of design principles which will inform future road schemes – to ensure its roads better serve the people who use them and the environments through which they pass.
The company, responsible for delivering the Government’s £15bn Road Investment Strategy, says that as well as connecting people and places, there should be renewed focus on improvements which are long lasting, sensitive to their surroundings, and enhance the quality of life.
Responsible for England’s motorways and main A roads, Highways England also announced the launch of a new body, comprised of experts across the industry, to provide support to designers on major projects. Early reviews include the Lower Thames Crossing and the A303 Stonehenge improvements.
Highways England’s Chief Highways Engineer Mike Wilson said:
We are delivering the biggest level of investment in England’s strategic road network for a generation.
We need to make sure that Highways England and the industry think in the right way when it comes to good design. The ten principles of good road design are to help us achieve that and will underpin our major improvements going forward.
We want roads that not only connect the country and communities, but which achieve a higher quality of life; that are designed in a way that is sensitive to the surroundings; provide greater economic vitality and use resources in a more efficient and innovative way.
The ten principles of good road design were published today following the recommendations of the Highways England Strategic Design Panel. They are that good road design:
makes roads safe and useful
is inclusive
makes roads understandable
fits in context
is restrained
is environmentally sustainable
is thorough
is innovative
is collaborative
is long-lasting
The panel was set up to support the development of a culture where good design is at the heart of everything within Highways England and the wider road sector. This coincides with Highways England delivering the biggest programme of Government investment in a generation. The panel’s focus is on strategic input rather than scheme specific details, targeting where its expertise, insight and guidance will have most positive impact and wider benefit such as standards, procurement and evaluation.
At the start of the Year of Engineering, acknowledging that good engineering changes people’s lives, Highways England has set out a design vision that:
We aim to put people at the heart of our work by designing an inclusive, resilient and sustainable road network; appreciated for its usefulness but also its elegance, reflecting in its design the beauty of the natural, built and historic environment through which it passes, and enhancing it where possible.
The new principles and vision have been launched at the start of the Year of Engineering, a government campaign to get many thousands more young people to consider engineering as a career. Highways England will work with suppliers to bring young people face to face with their work, offering them the opportunity to see first-hand the range of jobs on offer and the difference infrastructure projects make to people’s lives.
Examples of previous good design include the use of traditional dry stone to reinforce the A590’s connection to the Cumbrian landscape. Other examples of good design include the A3 Hindhead tunnel bypass and the decommissioning of the old road and the inclusion of a ‘green bridge’ on the A556 in Cheshire.
The green bridge over the A556 in Cheshire is seamlessly integrated with the context and allows for wildlife to cross
Earlier today Highways England released images of a new green bridge on the A556 Knutsford to Bowdon scheme opened last year. The A556 project’s green measures earned it a prestigious Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice last year.
As recommended by the Strategic Design Panel, Highways England recently established an independent design review panel. This new design review panel provides expert and independent design advice to the Strategic Design Panel, Highways England and their design teams to ensure that the design vision and principles of good road design are applied to individual schemes.
The ten new principles of good road design and vision will underpin the updated Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges was first published in 1992 and is the standard for the design, maintenance and operation of the strategic road network and is widely used for other roads in the UK and across the globe. The new manual will be rolled out in phases and is expected to be complete by March 2020.
General enquiries
Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.
Media enquiries
Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.
Monitoring work during the spring and summer of 2017 which used some of the latest technology, found that around 15,000 shad can make it above Upper Lode weir on the River Severn, near Tewkesbury before being halted by Diglis Weir in Worcester. These monitoring results are significant because they indicate the current levels of twaite shad in the river which once supported millions of this species.
Research part of a major project on the River Severn
The research was conducted by the Severn Rivers Trust, Environment Agency and Canal & River Trust as part of the multi-million pound Unlocking the Severn project, which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and EU Life. The information gathered will be vital for the project which aims to restore the shad’s access to 155 miles of the River Severn, north of Worcester, by providing fish passage solutions at a series of weirs that currently the fish cannot swim over or around.
Environment Agency Fisheries Monitoring Specialist, Charles Crundwell said:
We had no idea how many shad we’d find – we thought a few thousand, but in fact results suggest we could have as many as 15,000 in the lower reaches of the river. This shows great promise that by unlocking the river there’s scope for a really thriving population.
Plus the work to help the shad will open up the river for all fish species, so helping the shad will help everything else for the benefit of wildlife, residents, tourists and anglers.
Using different techniques to monitor the twaite shad
In order to learn more about the remaining small population of shad, particularly the conditions they need to prosper, volunteers and staff from the Severn Rivers Trust, Environment Agency and Canal & River Trust spent many hours watching and counting twaite shad swimming over Upper Lode weir during April, May and June.
In addition, a suite of remote monitoring techniques enabled monitoring all day, every day. This included cameras, counter plates triggered when a shad passed upstream and even the use of an acoustic beam giving an image similar to the ultrasound you get of a baby in the womb.
As well as the count of the shad, the monitoring team and its contractors made the first known underwater film of shad on the Severn as they migrated upstream and the first images of the shad’s spectacular spawning behaviour, which is like a whirling dancing with rigorous splashing seen just before dark.
Acoustic tracking tags fixed to 25 shad (another first for the UK, under licence from the Home Office) showed how they migrate up the river, what habitats they use, and how barriers delay them. This is all crucial information in understanding how to create the best access routes for the fish.
An suite of underwater camera equipment was installed at the spawning sites to understand this behaviour.
The allis shad
In addition to the twaite shad, the monitoring also recorded the rarer allis shad.
Charles explained:
Historically the allis shad were even more prized as a food fish and would certainly have been an important component of the catch prior to the navigation weirs being built. This is the first photographic proof that a tiny run of these fish still hold on in the Severn, which is really exciting and means that the natural restoration of this species is also likely to occur if we are able to provide fish passage solutions at the weirs further up the river.
More information about the Unlocking the Severn project is available online. You can also follow the project on twitter.
