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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions the Environment Agency has had with West Midlands Police on (a) the site operated by Rowan Oak Waste at Shaw Road in Dudley and (b) Rowan Oak Waste Services Limited.

We have made all Emergency Services, including West Midlands Police, aware of the site through the West Midlands Local Resilience Forum (WM LRF) meeting. We have advised West Midlands Police that we are undertaking a criminal investigation into the company.

We have shared information and raised awareness of this site, along with other sites within the West Midlands Conurbation, to all the partners of the WM LRF detailing the high risk of fire from these sites and what action we have taken to reduce this risk.

We have separately met with West Midlands Fire Service to ensure that fire risk has been appropriately assessed and a suitable incident response plan has been produced for this site.