Large-scale Waste Crime Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Kennedy of Southwark
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Large-scale Waste Crime
Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
We will hear from the Lib Dems next, then from my noble friend.
Baroness Sheehan (LD)
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of your Lordships’ Environment and Climate Change Committee which produced the report on waste crime. On 16 December, the Environment Agency wrote to the committee stating that 749 new illegal waste sites had been found in 2024-25, compared to 427 in the previous year. Clearly, the system is broken, not just failing. Two of the most devastating sites are in Kidlington and in Bickershaw, Wigan. Has work started to clear the Kidlington site? If so, at what cost to the taxpayer? Why is the same priority not applied to the Wigan site, given that it is near houses and a primary school and burned for nine days last July?