Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to assess whether sites like the Shelford landfill have followed environmental permit rules.

Waste management sites are regulated through environmental permits to ensure best practice and minimise environmental impact. Permits set conditions requiring operators to accept only appropriate waste, prevent pollution, and avoid nuisances like odours and noise. The Environment Agency uses a risk-based approach to site inspections by focusing on higher-risk or non-compliant sites. Shelford has been identified as a priority site and received increased regulatory attention over the last 12 months. This has included 5 unannounced site inspections and 22 compliance reports covering data reviews and response to reports of odour from the local community.