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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what was the cost to the public purse of landfill site regulation, monitoring, and remediation over the last five years.

The Environment Agency (EA) regulates permitted landfill sites on a full cost‑recovery basis. The costs of regulation are met by the landfill operators, primarily through annual subsistence charges which are paid by permit holders. These charges cover routine inspections and audits, assessment of monitoring and reporting requirements and ensuring that sites are properly closed and remediated at the end of their operational life.

Where the EA is required to undertake additional or non‑standard regulatory activity, landfill operators are required to pay supplementary charges to cover the full cost of that work.

As a result, the regulation of permitted landfill sites should not impose an ongoing cost on the public purse. Any additional costs would arise only in exceptional circumstances, such as enforcement action where cost recovery is not possible and intervening in cases where a site has been abandoned and the permit disclaimed. The EA does not currently hold figures for these additional costs.