Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many unannounced onsite inspections the Environment Agency has conducted at Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site at Preston New Road since July 2017.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
There have been two unannounced visits to Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site at Preston New Road since July 2017.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many onsite inspections the Environment Agency has conducted at Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site at Preston New Road since July 2017
Answered by Baroness Coffey
There have been ten visits to Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site at Preston New Road since July 2017.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to prevent illegal angling in Lancashire.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency’s Fisheries Operations Team uses an intelligence based approach as part of its enforcement plan to target fisheries for rod-licence enforcement. They target waters which have known high evasion rates and busy waters where lots of anglers will see officers enforcing rod-licence compliance. 1,535 rod-licences have been checked this year in Lancashire and 56 anglers have been reported for offences. The detected evasion rate is 3.52%.
Officers regularly meet with the Police to discuss rod-licence and other fisheries offences, as well as providing training for their officers. They also work with the Angling Trust Voluntary Bailiffs to target rod-licence evasion and other fisheries offences, through provision of information to us. This year the Environment Agency worked in partnership with the Angling Trust and Lancashire and Cumbria Police on Operation Clampdown which targeted illegal close season fishing.
The Environment Agency also checks for byelaw compliance to ensure that other elements are correct, such as fishing methods and close seasons. This year they were pleased to find only two offences during the coarse fish close season from 23 patrols undertaken.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 level of compliance with relevant environmental restrictions by Cuadrilla Resources’ at its shale gas site at Preston New Road.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency assesses that to date Cuadrilla have been in general compliant with their permit conditions.
The Environment Agency expects full compliance against Environmental Permits but it is not uncommon for industrial sites to have minor non compliances after site inspections and audits.
The Environment Agency has raised concerns over the management of surface water on site and has asked the operator to address this as a matter of priority.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 his Department has made of fish stocks in the River Wyre.
Answered by George Eustice
To assess the health of salmon rivers in England, the Environment Agency carries out annual assessments against salmon stock targets using angler rod catch data. In recent years there has been a downward trend in the health of Atlantic salmon on the River Wyre and our projections suggest this trend will likely continue. Regrettably this is in line with many other Atlantic salmon rivers in the UK and we are seeing sustainable salmon stocks fall across the country over recent years. In response, the Environment Agency and its partners launched in 2015 the Salmon 5 Point Approach.
The most recent assessment (2016) placed the River Wyre in the ‘at risk’ category, and a 5 year prediction of the same category it may be necessary to impose some form of fishery regulation. The Environment Agency undertakes juvenile fish monitoring in the River Wyre. In 2016 a total of 15 sites were surveyed throughout the catchment. The majority of the sites were monitoring juvenile salmonids, while those in the lower part of the catchment monitor the coarse fish populations. The results indicate that the salmon and trout are still present in the upper parts of the catchment in average populations. A mixture of coarse fish were found in the lower half of the catchment in average populations.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 the Environment Agency has made of the environmental effect of Cuadrilla Resources’ shale gas site at Preston New Road.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency assessed the potential environmental impacts of Cuadrilla’s proposed operations at its Preston New Road site and undertook two public consultations prior to granting environmental permits.
Since the issuing of the permits and during the construction phase of the site the Environment Agency has inspected the Preston New Road site five times. It has also monitored the local watercourses to ensure compliance with the environmental permit. Cuadrilla has recently applied to vary its environmental permit and the Environment Agency is currently consulting on the proposed changes and assessing the potential environmental impacts before deciding whether to grant the variation.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been prosecuted for angling illegally in Lancashire in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The Environment Agency manages the delivery of the rod licence service as part of its National Enforcement Service. A team (Enforcement Once) based in Warrington, Cheshire, administers sales and enforcement service for around 1 million anglers each year, generating c£21 million in income that is used to deliver improvements for fisheries and the environment.
Locally based enforcement officers undertake approximately 65,000 compliance checks each years as part of an integrated fisheries service, that results in approximately 3,000 sanctions, ranging from advice and guidance through to prosecution, being completed each year.
The data below shows the number of successful prosecutions of anglers for rod and line offences for waters in Lancashire county.
Rod licence Season | Number of successful prosecutions |
2012 / 2013 | 76 |
2013 / 2014 | 87 |
2014 / 2015 | 117 |
2015 / 2016 | 50 |
2016 / 2017 | 105 |
Grand Total | 435 |
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
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 his Department has made of fish stocks in the River Ribble.
Answered by George Eustice
To assess the health of England’s salmon rivers and sea trout rivers the Environment Agency carries out annual assessments against salmon stock targets using angler rod catch data. The 2016 assessment places the Ribble in the ‘probably at risk’ category, and the 5 year prediction places it in the poorer ‘at risk’ category. Defra has signed off regulations to cap the number of salmon available to the net and rod fishery. Moreover the Environment Agency and its partners launched the Salmon 5 Point Approach in 2015.
Recent assessments of sea trout stocks indicate a healthier picture with the River Ribble deemed ‘not at risk’. The Environment Agency also undertook fish monitoring in the Ribble. In 2016, sites were surveyed throughout the catchment. The results indicate that the salmon and trout are still present in the catchment although salmon have shown a decline which is in line with the number of adults returning. The numbers of trout show average populations and there are small numbers of coarse fish present in the lower Ribble catchment.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Environment Agency has made in upgrading water pumps at Dock Bridge pumping station in Lytham.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency, as part of their East Lytham Project, has commissioned the framework contractor BMM to replace the pumps and controls at Dock Bridge pumping station, and also to carry out wider improvements to the culvert and storm pump outfall at Dock Bridge, Lytham. BMM are on site and the works are starting now. The work is due for completion in autumn 2017.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Environment Agency has made on dredging Liggard Brook to prevent flooding in Lytham.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency has commissioned the framework contractor BMM to de-silt (dredge) the tidal sections of Liggard Brook and Main Drain in Lytham, as part of the wider East Lytham project. The framework contractors will also be surveying silt levels in the non-tidal section of Liggard Brook through Lytham so we can assess the need for further de-silting work. BMM are on site now and the majority of work is due for completion in autumn 2017. The East Lytham project also includes replacing the pumps and controls at Dock Bridge pumping station, and altering the culvert and storm pump outfall to help increase the river flow.