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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on whether the Environment Agency plans to impose penalties on the operators of the Rowan Oak Waste site on Shaw Road, Dudley, for failing to dispose of waste.

The Environment Agency has taken enforcement action against Rowanoak Waste Services Limited following poor compliance, including the exceedance of their legal waste quantities. On 29 April 2016 their environmental permit was revoked, preventing them from moving more waste to the site.

The revocation notice also required the removal of all waste on the site by 16 September 2016. Rowanoak Waste Services Limited failed to comply with this and the Environment Agency is now preparing to take further action against the company for non-compliance.

The Environment Agency always looks to take prosecution action against an operator who is found to have committed a criminal offence and will always seek to ensure that it remediates any environmental impact caused by its illegal activity.

The Environment Agency is working with the landowner, Dudley Borough Council and the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service to minimise pollution and fire risk at the site and to have it cleared as soon as possible.