Tomorrow, Thursday 23rd July, 2pm, there will be a gathering of people who care about our rivers In Bristol to deliver a letter. We will ga to the head ot the Environment Agency. We will meet here, outside
Environment Agency (EA) Legal Services, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol BS1 5AH (opposite Bristol Library, near the Cathedral).
The letter (see below) will start with a summary of the case of Paul Powlesland who is a River Guardian (an activist for and defender of the river) for the River Roding, a tributary of the Thames. He found several illegal sewer outlets, told the EA about them, and they said they had no money to prosecute. With others, Paul was pulling loads of rubbish from his river. He also found a tributary of the Roding totally blocked. Again the EA said they could not do it, lack of funding, so Paul hired a digger to do it. The EA said they would prosecute him for clearing the tributary without a permit. Then, following an outcry, they withdrew their threat.
The letter will be summarising the failure of EA to prosecute serious corporate polluters but its willingness to prosecute River Guardians who remove litter – a clear failure of natural justice.
We will deliver the letter by hand to the EA, then go for a nice cup of tea and discuss next moves – perhaps a much more numerous demonstration in September or October.
Sorry this is very short notice – it is a response to recent events. Please spread it widely in your circles and turn up if you possibly can.
LETTER TO HEAD OF ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
Thursday 23rd July
Alan LovelL Chair, Environment Agency (EA)
Environment Agency Legal Services
Horizon House, Deanery Road
Bristol BS1 5AH
Dear Mr Lovell
A significant and increasing number of members of the public are deeply concerned at the polluted state of the rivers in England, and our concern has been brought to a head by the case of Paul Powlesland, a barrister specialising in Environmental Law and a defender of the River Roding, a tributary of the Thames. He found several illegal sewer outlets, told the EA about them, and the response was that the EA had not sufficient money to prosecute. Paul found a tributary of the Roding that was totally blocked. Again the EA said they could not unblock the waterway, again citing lack of funding, so Paul hired a digger to clear it successfully. The EA threatened that they would prosecute him for clearing a waterway without a permit. Then, following a public outcry, the threat was withdrawn.
The failure of EA to prosecute serious corporate polluters but its willingness to prosecute River Guardians who remove litter and restore flows is a clear failure of natural justice.
We, concerned members of the public, feel that this case indicates the need for a root and branch reassessment and review of the Environment Agency’s operation, looking at its effectiveness, its priorities, its relationship with corporate polluters, its corporate ethos, and in particular, the morale and opinions of its employees, whose professionalism is often, we feel, constrained by EA policy.
We feel that the EA should enforce the law on environmental crimes, particularly regarding sewage & waste dumping.
We feel that the EA must have a positive duty to restore England’s rivers to a good state of health
We feel that the EA should start working with local river guardians to make all of these things happen.
Thank you for giving this matter your serious attention. We, look forward to your timely and sympathetic response.
Yours sincerely
Richard Lawson