Oral Answers to Questions

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

1. What reforms he has made to funding for flood protection.

[Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Ind)]

5. What reforms he has made to funding for flood protection.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)]

Mr Speaker, merry Christmas to you and all your staff. I put on the record my sympathy with everyone affected by water outages in Southampton; I discussed the matter with the chief executive officer yesterday.

We will have a public consultation in the new year on the formula that allocates flood defence funding, to ensure that the challenges facing businesses in rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account. Protecting communities from flooding is a top priority, and later today I will have a winter flood preparedness meeting. I thank everyone who will be on duty over the Christmas period.

[Dr Gardner]

My constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South has many farmers, some of whom are personal friends. On their behalf, I ask the Minister to update the House on the funds that the Government are making available via the farming recovery fund to support farmers impacted by last year’s severe weather.

[Emma Hardy]

The Government recognise the awful impact that flooding has had on the farming community. We are releasing £60 million via the farming recovery fund to support farmers impacted by last year’s severe weather—£10 million more than was planned by the previous Government—and £55.7 million has been paid out to over 12,700 farm businesses.

Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords]

Allison Gardner Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 16th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

In my constituency, we do not have a single unpolluted watercourse. Last year, on the Conservative Government’s watch, Severn Trent Water, the company that covers my constituency, was responsible for over 60,000 sewage overflows nationally. In Stoke-on-Trent South, we have had 24 sites polluted by 337 sewage dumps lasting a total of 1,570 hours.

I have spoken many times about the impact of flooding and sewage pollution in my constituency. I have highlighted the ongoing battle of the village of Upper Tean to combat frequent flooding and pollution of the River Tean. Upper Tean’s village recreation space, with a children’s playground, is frequently flooded with sewage-contaminated water. The people of Upper Tean are good people, and are willing to work with all agencies via the newly created Tean flood action group to positively rectify these problems. Indeed, the most recent meeting had a positive outcome, in that a particular outflow will have CCTV monitoring installed to address the issue of false sensor recordings and to address poor communication within Severn Trent regarding the reporting of incidents. Through local meetings with the people who are affected and with local water representatives who come in good faith, we can make change.

Following on from our experience in Upper Tean, I cannot stress enough the importance of listening to consumers and empowering the citizen voice, so I am pleased to note that new section 35B of the Water Industry Act 1991 will require that consumers be involved in the water companies’ decision-making processes, and I welcome the Secretary of State’s announcements regarding the requirement for customer panels. I want to ensure that guidelines are laid out so that such panels are not tick-box consultations that can be manipulated with clever questions. They must be truly participatory, with diverse input, offering constructive criticism and solutions that make a difference in real life. We must always put the people and their voice at the heart of decision making.

In Tean, after much prolonged pressure, we have seen that we can develop positive local relationships between representatives of water companies and citizens. However, the same cannot be said of the chief exec, who seems rather resistant to meeting or even replying personally to emails, but is quite happy to take her bonus. As such, I welcome the Bill and its focus on empowering regulators to hold the water companies and their chief executives to account, including by blocking bonuses, bringing criminal charges and being able to implement automatic, severe fines. People are fed up of being taken for mugs—cash cows to deliver paydays for shareholders. We bathe in sewage while shareholders and execs are showered with dividends and bonuses. This Bill is just the start of this Labour Government’s journey to hold those companies to account, bringing an end to the profiteering and the decay of our water infrastructure, and to turn the tide on pollution. It should be supported by Members on all sides of the House, and I hope it sails through today.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call Ellie Chowns, a member of the Select Committee.

Oral Answers to Questions

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. Let me say once again that it is important to treat this subject carefully. We must look at the facts and listen to people who know about it. I was asked earlier by someone else whether this measure was wrong, but we should look at what Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and other tax experts have said. There are many ways in which this can be managed, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman to join me in reassuring British farmers about their future.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

4. What progress the floods resilience taskforce has made on protecting at-risk communities from flooding.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

14. What progress the floods resilience taskforce has made on protecting at-risk communities from flooding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy)]

I am sure the whole House will join me in expressing sympathy with the communities of the Valencia region and across Spain following the dreadful flooding.

This Government’s floods resilience taskforce marks a new approach by national, regional and local government, and by flood risk partners, to better co-ordinate flood preparedness. It met on 12 September, with 40 attendees from 27 organisations agreeing actions including sharing learning from recent floods. This Government will invest £2.4 billion over the next two years to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. Yesterday, at the Association of Drainage Authorities conference, I announced that we will allocate a further £50 million to the internal drainage boards.

[Dr Gardner]

I also send my best wishes to the citizens of Valencia and the surrounding region.

As the Secretary of State knows very well, the village of Upper Tean is frequently affected by flooding and sewage discharges. After visiting the Environment Agency, it was suggested that the parish council should set up a flood action group to help to tackle the causes and prevent further impacts of flooding. Will the Secretary of State and the Minister responsible for flooding meet me to discuss the support they can offer to the village in setting up a flood action group?

[Emma Hardy]

I was delighted to hear that the village is proactively setting up a flood action group. Of course, I appreciate the wonderful work that my hon. Friend is doing to support the village. The Government fully support collaboration between risk management authorities, including local Environment Agency teams and local communities, and we are committed to hearing from people on the ground via the new taskforce. Of course, I would be happy to meet them.

Independent Water Commission

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

That is an important point. The commission will be looking at the financial viability of water companies, including their levels of indebtedness. The hon. Member also made the important point about what happens when water companies cut off supplies, because, frankly, compensation to individual households and businesses has been inadequate. That is something that we seek to address through the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is going through Parliament right now, so it need not wait for the commission.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

The village of Upper Tean, which the Secretary of State may remember, has experienced flooding, burst drains, and sewage flooding into rivers and streams, killing them, for many years. And recently residents had to turn out en masse in the middle of the night to divert traffic away when the village was overwhelmed by quite a serious and urgent flood. Following meetings with the Environment Agency, the parish council is looking into developing a flood action group, so that it can provide the resilience and the powerful voice to take action against water companies such as Severn Trent. Will the Secretary of State assure me that the commission will look at how communities such as that of Upper Tean can build the resilience they need and also help them develop a flood action group?

Waste Crime: Staffordshire

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Westminster Hall

[Adam Jogee]

You never forget your first time with the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—there we are. My wife is indeed from Northern Ireland—but we will stop that one there. I am, however, grateful to him for his intervention, because he makes an interesting point. Lots of people in my constituency were told that everything had been done within the law, so the simple response for me is: let us change the law. The Minister already knows some of my thoughts on that. Although we have a very busy legislative programme following the election, it is something I will push strongly and proactively.

My remarks to the inquiry continued:

“The investigation into the fire concluded that it was most likely caused by a lithium battery, but two things on this, Chair—no battery was found, which raises some very serious questions and Walleys’ permit doesn’t allow for lithium batteries to be disposed of.

My call is simple—we need the site closed, capped and restored. And we need that done now. I have made that point to anyone who will listen and will keep doing so.

Today, I am here as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme, and I am here to give voice to all the people who have raised this issue with me directly over the last couple of years.

We now need the Environment Agency to honour its responsibility to the people who live, learn and work here.

Simply put, Chair”—

that chair is in the Public Gallery, Councillor Bettley-Smith—

“enough is enough.

I look forward to answering your questions.”

I acknowledge the work of the cross-party committee leading the inquiry, and I welcome the invitation to speak before it, because I wanted Newcastle’s MP in the room helping to shape the way forward and delivering the results that local people want and desperately need. The stress, concern and fear about hydrogen sulphide emissions coming from the site cannot be overestimated. It is having a real impact on people’s lives and has done for many years now. There have been more than 100 breaches of the permit held by Walleys. Mr Vickers, imagine a citizen breaking an agreement, breaking the law or getting caught speeding more than 100 times? Imagine if there had been more than 100 parties in Downing Street. There must be real penalties and real enforcement.

In advance of this debate, the chief executive of Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council provided me with the number of complaints received by the council from 2019 to the end of August 2024: 32,315. Some 32,315 of my constituents have shared their rage, anger and frustration. Residents are also encouraged to report complaints to the Environment Agency, so I suspect there will be many more complaints. More than 30,000 people over five years have said that enough is enough, and we—the relevant agencies, from borough and county councils to the Environment Agency and Whitehall—must listen.

I acknowledge the work of the former Tory MP in my constituency for his work on this issue, but the simple fact is that the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme have been let down and left behind, and that must change.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Jogee]

I will give way to my neighbour.

[Dr Gardner]

My constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South adjoins my hon. Friend’s, and the smell from Walleys Quarry has extended into the Northwood region of my constituency, which itself has experienced repeated fly-tipping that has caused harm to farmers. I want to reiterate the impact Walleys Quarry has had in Newcastle-under-Lyme and further afield on the quality of residents’ day-to-day lives and, crucially, their health, especially that of young children. There is also the impact on the saleability of homes, which means that residents are stuck and cannot move on. That cannot carry on.

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) is sitting next to her speaks to the collective experience and frustration that we feel in north Staffordshire. I am grateful not only for their support in the fight to get this problem sorted, but for the support of constituents in Stoke-on-Trent South for mine. I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention.

People have been let down by the Environment Agency, the last Government and those who could help us get this sorted. However, I would like to acknowledge the tireless and passionate work of local councillors in our community.

Can the Minister let us know what assessment she has made of the work of the joint unit for waste crime? I know we are in the early days of the new Government, but we need to see and know that these agencies are being held accountable and have the powers required to get things done.

Talking of agencies, let me turn to the Environment Agency. My view is simple: it is simply not fit for purpose. Its responsibilities are far too wide and, in our case, people locally have lost faith in its ability to stand up for us against landfill operators who act like cowboys and who have no regard for the health and wellbeing of their neighbours. I base that on what has happened in my constituency with Walleys Quarry, the land at Doddlespool and Elms Farm and what might well happen at the Bradwell West Quarry.

With all the criminal activity that seemingly, and indeed knowingly in some cases, takes place—or that seems to surround certain elements of the waste industry—something is wrong. Under the Conservative Government, we had a perfect storm: major cuts to local government, savage cuts to the Environment Agency’s staff and budget, and an apparent disregard for how serious waste crime is. That must change. Although I acknowledge that we inherited a financial crisis, we can and should use the law to give my constituents the clean air and healthy lungs they need and deserve.

I do not know what discussions my predecessor had with Ministers in the Conservative Government, so I cannot speak to what happened before 5 July; that is why I secured this debate. I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State signed off on the council’s ability to take action against Walleys—I believe that the previous Conservative Minister left the issue sitting on their desk. I urge the Minister to think about introducing a fit and proper person test for those seeking a permit to operate a landfill site, which would go some way to ensuring that those who have taken the mick can no longer do so. I would be happy to meet the Minister to talk about that in detail.

In January 2024, the now Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs came to Newcastle-under-Lyme to meet local campaigners and Councillor Jacqueline Brown in Silverdale. He smelled, he listened and he understood the situation we face.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) noted, this is a health crisis as much as an environmental crisis. There is major concern in the community about the fact that the health impacts have not been acknowledged properly. I ask the Minister to meet me and the relevant Health Minister to address the health impact of this waste crisis in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

We need a closure notice, and I urge the Environment Agency to grant one immediately. The site must be properly and safely capped, and we need a restoration plan that is fit for purpose. In recent weeks, we have heard calls from the borough council and the county council about the financial element of the restoration plan. I have a simple question: what on earth is going on? What happened to the financial modelling behind the restoration plan? Why are we now realising that it requires external support? Why was that not raised before? This did not just become an issue after 5 July.

Those who could and should have had their eyes on the ball and their fingers on the pulse have been found wanting. My constituents should not be paying for the failures of the state at all levels, so will the Minister go back to the Department with my suggestion to look at what the Environment Agency does with the money it receives from enforcement action? How much money does it collect from enforcement each year, and how can we ensure that it is used to right the wrongs? The Environment Agency is responsible for upholding the law, and those who break it should pay for their mess.

Walleys Quarry Ltd has a bond with the Environment Agency of, I think, about £1.8 million. I have been told by some of those who should know that the safe, secure restoration of the site could cost as much as £20 million. That is not a revelation; the right people have known about it, and it simply has not been addressed.

After my election, I submitted a range of written parliamentary questions asking to see communication between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Staffordshire county council, between the Department and the Environment Agency, and between the Department and the borough council. I was told that it would cost too much to process those requests.

[Dr Gardner]

Given the difficult economic situation the country is in, does my right hon. Friend agree that although cost and finances are an important consideration, we must be careful of false economies? Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a major issue in areas such as Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent South, and the impact of poor air quality on the NHS can be expensive, so actions to address air quality and waste can save money in the long run in terms of health. [Interruption.]

[Adam Jogee]

I am winding up my remarks, Mr Vickers. My hon. Friend makes a really important point: a healthy workforce is an active workforce, and an active workforce will contribute to the growth that the Government seek to bring to communities such as mine and hers, and to those up and down the country, including Keighley. We need to tackle toxic air pollution—we need clean air—so I thank her for making that point. I also thank her for promoting me to right hon.—I did not get that through the Whips.

I was told that it would cost too much for me to see the correspondence between those three bodies and the Department, so I say to the Minister: I am happy to come to the Department any day, any time to look at anyone’s computer. We need to shine a light on the collective failures that have got us into this mess—not the Minister’s failures, but the failures we now have to clean up. My constituents deserve to know, and I need to know. The Minister knows I will not rest until we see a closure notice, and I hope that the Environment Agency is listening to me today. I call on it to share its correspondence with the county council and the borough council with me too.

Walleys Quarry Ltd has written to me several times asking to meet, and it is important to put that on the record. However, it is also important to put on the record that if it had turned up to the cross-party public inquiry at the council, we could have met there. Walleys Quarry could have taken part in an evidence-based democratic process with clear transparency for my constituents.

We are now looking to fill a £20 billion black hole in the national finances, so what discussions are taking place across Government to make sure that landfill operators pay their fair share? I urge her to raise the issue of landfill tax levels with the Treasury. I know that increasing the tax on landfill operators would go down very well in my constituency.

The people of Newcastle-under-Lyme have had enough. They simply want to get on with their lives and to be free from the horrendous and dangerous impact of Walleys Quarry. That cannot be too much to ask, and I will keep fighting—alongside all those who want clean air and healthy lungs, healthy hearts and healthy minds right across Newcastle-under-Lyme—until we get the closure notice that we desperately need and the proper restoration plan to go with it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gareth Snell]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention—and I am grateful to be able to call him my hon. Friend; last time I was in the Commons, I never thought I would have the opportunity to call a Member who represented Lichfield my hon. Friend, and doing so fills my heart with glee. He is absolutely right. This debate could easily have been about waste crime anywhere in the country, because duplicitous operators who seek to make money off the backs of our communities without any care or attention are everywhere. I am sure that the new Minister will be clamping down on them hard.

I turn to how we do that. While we can all air our grievances about the sites in our constituencies, I want to spend a few moments focusing on what comes next. I tend to agree with what my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme said about the fitness for purpose of the Environment Agency, but I will be slightly more generous to it than he was. He rightly has a grievance with it over the operation of Walleys Quarry, but I think there is a bigger problem about the way we do regulatory enforcement in this country. The Environment Agency is an example that we can use to demonstrate that.

Every so often, Unchecked UK produces a document about the enforcement gap, looking at how regulatory organisations and agencies have done less and less enforcement over time. In its 2020 enforcement gap report, Unchecked UK found that between 2010 and 2020, the number of staff working for the Environment Agency decreased by 32%, so one in three staff disappeared. It also found that over the same period of time, the Environment Agency’s budget decreased by 63%. As a result, the number of prosecutions it could undertake decreased by 88%. The number of enforcement notices it was able to levy went down by 69.5%, and it could only take 44% of them through to prosecution because it lacked the capacity to undertake the necessary regulatory enforcement work.

While we must not excuse the actions of those who perpetrate waste crime around our country, it is not impossible to see why they think it is a lucrative way to spend their time and energy. The likelihood of their getting caught, of an enforcement notice being levied upon them or of a prosecution being brought has gone down and down over the past 10 years.

It is not just the Environment Agency that has had this problem. Local authorities around the country, which have a really important environmental health role and can quite often take small-scale actions in communities to prevent much larger destructive activities, have suffered the same blight. Over the past 10 years, 32% of environmental health staff in local authorities have been lost. That means that many enforcement and regulatory agencies react to problems, but they are unable to take proactive and preventive work to avoid things becoming problems in the first place.

[Dr Gardner]

Further to what my hon. Friend has said, we have to think about the involvement of other agencies. In Staffordshire, and I am sure elsewhere, fly-tipping and the illegal dumping of waste are often linked to organised crime. Therefore, the points that he made about local government, the Environment Agency and regulators also extend to preventive policing.

[Gareth Snell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. It is almost as if she has read the script in front of me, because she has perfectly lined me up for my next point, which is about the link between illegal dumping, fly-tipping in communities and the wider connection to organised crime and money making. Another report from Unchecked UK, published in 2022, pointed out that enforcement against fly-tipping was at a 10-year low, while the number of incidents of fly-tipping was at a 10-year high. There is a growing chasm between what is happening on the ground and the activities that perpetrators are being punished for and prevented from carrying out.