{"id":77845,"date":"2017-01-10T16:02:54","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T16:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=e85247be516e1503971ee64c36454e82"},"modified":"2017-01-10T16:02:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T16:02:54","slug":"press-release-environment-agency-crackdown-continues-on-illegal-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=77845","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Environment Agency crackdown continues on illegal activity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Almost \u00a3220,000 in fines and costs have been imposed by courts following Environment Agency investigations into those flouting waste and fishing laws in the North East.<\/p>\n

During 2016 there were 25 prosecutions of individuals or companies for waste offences, amounting to total fines of \u00a393,390 and costs of \u00a3109,683.<\/p>\n

There were also three custodial sentences, two suspended sentences, a curfew, community orders and two formal cautions, as well as compensation awarded to a landowner who had to clear waste illegally dumped.<\/p>\n

In fisheries enforcement, there were six serious offences resulting in \u00a3460 in fines and \u00a3600 costs, plus forfeiture of equipment and a crushed vehicle.<\/p>\n

There were a further 54 offenders prosecuted for 59 rod licence offences resulting in fines of \u00a314,327, with four offenders also given conditional discharges.<\/p>\n

Taking tough action<\/h3>\n

Enforcement activity has taken place right across the North East in Teesside, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency\u2019s enforcement teams work alongside other specialist teams to support businesses in abiding by their permit conditions, but take tough action against those who deliberately flout regulations.<\/p>\n

And fisheries enforcement officers carry our regular patrols and act on information and intelligence to target illegal activity on our rivers.<\/p>\n

Working closely with partners<\/h3>\n

Jamie Fletcher, Environment Manager at the Environment Agency in the North East, said:<\/p>\n

\n

Waste crime can cause serious pollution to the environment, puts communities at risk and undermines legitimate businesses, impacting on investment and economic growth.<\/p>\n

Similarly those fishing illegally are cheating other anglers and putting the future of the sport and quality of our rivers in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

We have specialist teams that work hard to target those suspected of being involved in illegal activity and to ensure any necessary action is taken against them.<\/p>\n

We work closely with a wide range of partners including local authorities, police and the fire service, and I\u2019d like to thank them for their continued support.<\/p>\n

There have been some excellent results at court over the past year, and communities and anglers can rest assured that this will continue.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

To report information about illegal activity contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. To report a crime ongoing dial 999.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During 2016 almost \u00a3220,000 in fines and costs were imposed by courts following Environment Agency investigations in the North East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}