NRW has another busy year of regulatory activity
A report published by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) today revealed that, while strong environmental regulation is supporting people and businesses across Wales to minimise the risks of harming the natural environment through their activities, more work needs to be done to prevent pollution incidents happening in the future
NRW’s Annual Regulation Report for 2022 sets out the regulatory performance of those holding environmental permits in Wales and NRW’s regulatory activity. It looks at compliance, pollution incidents, crime, and enforcement activity and how NRW has delivered on its regulatory and enforcement duties during the 2022 calendar year.
The report highlights that NRW received 7,255 reported incidents over the reporting period - 1,705 fewer than 2021. NRW officers attended 29 per cent of these, an increase of two per cent on the previous year.
Water-related incidents across the UK have been highlighted in the media over the past year, with NRW receiving 2,566 water reports in 2022. These related to pollution, reservoir safety, abstraction, and blockage or alteration to a watercourse. These incidents represented 31 per cent of the total number of reported incidents.
NRW received 1,337 reports of waste-related incidents, including large-scale fly-tipping, the burning of waste, illegal waste sites and waste carriers, and 1,536 incidents relating to regulated activity – those covered by permits and licences.
Reports of illegal fishing, illegal cockling and fish kills resulted in 306 reports, and 652 incidents were recorded in the forestry sector.
Figures included in the report also show that tackling those organisations and individuals who seek to profit from illegal activity continues to be a priority. In 2022, NRW recorded 849 new enforcement cases, comprising of 889 offenders, with 1,214 separate enforcement charges. While enforcement responses of advice, guidance and warnings remain consistent with previous years, NRW has increased the number of notices, cautions and prosecution cases taken, with an additional 298 cases still ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
Martyn Evans, Future Regulation Team Leader for NRW said:
“Strong regulation underpins our purpose to protect, maintain and enhance Wales’ natural resources so that people can live better, and healthier lives and our wildlife can thrive.
“While this report shows some improving trends, we know that there is still much work to do, especially in priority areas such as pollution. The quality of the Welsh environment is not where we, our partners and the people of Wales want it to be, and we will need a collaborative approach to address the issues Wales faces.
“This involves a suite of tools to protect our environment, prevent pollution and support the climate and nature emergencies, from raising awareness of environmental issues, laws and regulations and promoting good environmental practices, to undertaking enforcement action through civil penalties, notices and warnings, fines and prosecutions, for non-compliant or wholly illegal activities.”
NRW is underlining the important role compliance with regulations has in protecting communities and nature against growing climate risks in the future. The report highlights that NRW issued 2,928 permits and licences in 2022, to help industry, business and individuals carry out activities in a way that prevents and controls pollution or harm the environment. NRW also registered 1,991 new waste carriers, brokers and dealers, helping to ensure that the transportation, disposal, or recovery of waste in Wales is managed correctly.
Martyn Evans, added:
“We continue to see pressures on our natural environment and must work together to reduce the impact that regulatory non-compliance, environmental crime and pollution incidents have on our natural resources, economy and communities.
“Helping people and businesses protect the environment and tackle the climate and nature emergency are an important part of NRW’s regulatory duties.
“We will continue to explore new and innovative approaches to make our regulatory approach as effective as possible, by using the resources at our disposal to prevent non-compliance across all sectors, and to tackle illegal activity wherever we find it.”
You can read the full Natural Resources Wales Regulation Report 2022 here: Natural Resources Wales / Annual Regulation Report 2022 (cyfoethnaturiol.cymru)