Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evidence and compliance assessments the Environment Agency relied upon when permitting the continued operation of the Stanlow refinery, including in relation to BAT 52 obligations.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) assessed the Stanlow refinery BAT 52 derogation against known pollutants such as non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) benzene. The EA confirmed there would be no increase in emission concentrations from the White Oil Docks vent or other site activities as a result of the derogation. [assets.pub...ice.gov.uk]
The operator’s impact assessment followed the EA’s established methodology in ‘Air emissions risk assessment for your environmental permit’, which evaluates potential effects on sensitive human health receptors. The operator submitted dispersion modelling in accordance with this guidance, and the modelling and assessment report is available on the EA Public Register. [consult.en...ncy.gov.uk] The EA concluded that long‑ and short‑term impacts from these known pollutants under BAT 52 are not significant.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Environment Agency has made of the adequacy of permits supplied to manufacturers in Stanlow.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are two permits issued to manufacturers on the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex by the Environment Agency (EA): Argent Biodiesel LP3233DK and Essar Oil UK (Stanlow Manufacturing Complex) (FP3139FN). Both have permits under Environmental Permitting Regulations, determined and issued following due process.
For Argent, the most recent variation and consolidated permit was issued on 18 November 2024. For Essar, the most recent variation and consolidated permit was issued on 24 June 2025. In addition, there is a local authority regulated part B permit for Stanlow Terminals Limited for storage, unloading and loading petrol at road terminal.
A programme of inspection and audit by the EA’s local team checks compliance with permit conditions, including monitoring emissions to air, water and land, operating procedures reviewing reports, and verifying self-monitoring. If significant non-compliance is detected, then this is, and has been, addressed by follow-up inspection and appropriate enforcement response.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help reduce the odours emanating from Stanlow.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has initiated an investigation into the source and cause of odours in the area, visiting Stanlow refinery and other regulated businesses. EA officers have undertaken odour checking in the community, through scheduled visits and in response to complaints. The refinery environmental permit sets out emission limits as well as requiring the operator to take action to minimise odours by using appropriate measures.
The EA identified one potential source of odour, and the operator is installing equipment to reduce odorous emissions from this source. The EA further directed the company to review their plant operations, to identify any other potential causes of the odour and to update their management systems including a comprehensive revision of their Odour Management Plan. The EA is assessing available air quality, emissions, and meteorological data and has engaged with the UKHSA and Local Authority Cheshire West and Chester on this.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any ministerial redundancy payments have been repaid to his Department since 2019.
Answered by Mark Spencer
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 19 February 2024 from the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston on the legal restrictions on XL Bully dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer
A reply will be sent to the hon. Member soon. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to introduce further funding rounds under the natural flood management programme.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to mainstream the use of Natural Flood Management (NFM) and expect the £25 million NFM programme will help inform how we do that. While we do not currently have plans for further rounds, we would encourage applicants to apply for NFM funding as part of our wider £5.6 billion investment in flood and coastal defences.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for announcing further successful applicants for funding under the Frequently Flooded Allowance scheme.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In July 2022 the Government announced the £100 million Frequently Flooded Allowance to support communities that have experienced repeated flooding. The Allowance improves access to public funding for frequently flooded communities that have not been able to secure all of the funding necessary to progress their flood resilience scheme. The first 53 projects to receive £48 million from the Allowance were announced in April 2023. The next round of projects will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of page four of the National Audit Office’s report entitled, Resilience to flooding, published on 15 November 2023; and for what reasons the Environment Agency has reduced its forecast of the number of additional properties that will be protected from flooding due to the capital programme.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s Permanent Secretary and the Environment Agency’s Chief Executive provided oral evidence at the Public Accounts Committee hearing on 27 November 2023, discussing the National Audit Office’s findings and recommendations. The Committee will publish a report in the new year, to which the Government will formally respond.
The investment programme has faced delivery challenges which the Government is taking action to mitigate. The effects of inflation have increased the cost of materials and labour to build flood defences, and impacts from Covid-19 delayed mobilisation of construction activity. These events were unforeseen when the programme was developed ahead of the funding being announced in March 2020. These issues have been felt across the entire construction sector. The Environment Agency therefore now forecasts the number of properties to be better protected by 2027 will reduce from 336,000 to 200,000, with the number of new flood defence projects reducing from approximately 2,000 to around 1,500. Ministers are considering this new forecast with the Environment Agency.
Despite challenges, at the end of March 2023, the Environment Agency estimated that approximately £1.5 billion of the current £5.2 billion programme for flood reduction has been invested. Over 67,000 properties have already been better protected from flooding since the start of the programme and projects are being delivered in every region, providing flooding protection across the country.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many flood risk schemes have been allocated funding via the Flood Defence Grant in Aid; and in which locations funded schemes have been.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is acting to drive down flood risk from every angle.
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over six years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. Since 2021, £1.5 billion has so far been invested in flood defence projects across the country. The Investment Plan for the six-year floods programme, published in 2021, provided indicative information about regional allocation of investment. The range of projects in the programme is refreshed annually to take account of changes in local projects, and now also the impacts of inflation and COVID-19 on the programme.
Our previous floods investment programme ran from 2015 to 2021. The number of projects and homes better protected by region is provided in the table below.
Office of National Statistics Region | April 2015 to March 2021 number of projects that were invested in and delivered homes better protected | April 2015 to March 2021 homes better protected |
East Midlands | 70 | 38,200 |
East of England | 78 | 11,500 |
London | 30 | 20,100 |
North East | 84 | 6,500 |
North West | 116 | 37,600 |
South East | 129 | 80,600 |
South West | 133 | 28,500 |
West Midlands | 99 | 7,500 |
Yorkshire | 115 | 83,800 |
Total | 854 | 314,300 |
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has (a) carried out a recent review of the allocation of Flood Defence Grant in Aid funding which will be available for flood risk schemes and (b) made an assessment of the effectiveness of that funding.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government announced in March 2020 the amount invested in flood and coastal erosion schemes would be doubled in England to £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027. The Government keeps under review how funding is allocated to maximise its effectiveness.
Grant in Aid is allocated through the Government’s Partnership Funding policy to create greater partnership working between authorities and communities. Defra undertook an independent evaluation of the policy in 2018 and found it enabled more schemes to be delivered.