The dismissal of the Waste 4 Fuel case at the High Court on Tuesday afternoon has come as surprising and incredibly disappointing news to all involved. Sir David Eady is yet to explain the reasons behind his judgement, and the Environment Agency (EA) will, as I understand it, announce the next steps they plan to take once he has done so.
The actions of this rogue operator has been the subject of numerous Parliamentary Questions, as well as meetings with Defra Ministers and senior managers at the EA. In my mind, the EA has been too slow to react throughout this entire affair, displaying a culture of open risk averseness and an inability to produce a coherent and robust contingency plan.
The failure of the case on Tuesday has, I feel, exposed serious gaps in both the legal framework controlling such sites, and the capacity of the EA to properly police them. A strong drive from the very top of Government is now needed to bring this awful and ongoing situation to a close, and for that reason, James Brokenshire, Jo Johnson and myself have written to the Prime Minister with haste, requesting a meeting with him to discuss future steps for both the Cornwall Drive site, and indeed others like it around the country.
Finally, some good news did fortunately come from the last hearing, with Mr Justice Eady refusing to grant Waste 4 Fuel’s bid to increase their waste intake. The Judge indicated that allowing them to do so would put the safety of both residents and the environment at risk. I will be working with local resident groups to continue pushing the EA to take incisive action to close the site and clear the waste as soon as possible, and we will be meeting with some of their senior officers in the very near future. I will, of course, post any updates on the website as and when they are available.