Prosecution does not help the environment, regulator says

Taking an environmental offender to court is a failure of regulation, the Welsh environmental regulator has told a Commons select committee into pollution in Wales.

There is no environmental betterment to be gained from the prosecution process, the head of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said by way of explanation for the group prioritising education, advice and interventions.

Speaking to the Westminster hearing, Clare Pillman, chief executive of the body, said: “The point at which you’re prosecuting for a failure, you are not getting environmental betterment, and we are trying to push for environmental improvement.”

She said fines imposed through the court system did not solve the problem. The committee, which heard from academics and environmental groups as well as regulators and Welsh Water executives, questioned NRW on being “incentivised” to avoid prosecutions to show regulation works.

Pillman explained the prosecution route was always open and denied greater powers were necessary, but said cases must be weighed against the public interest of taking a case to court.

Gail Davies-Walsh, chief executive of Welsh rivers trust Afonydd Cymru, called for tighter planning and regulatory processes and for regulator NRW to examine all causes of harm to rivers, not just water companies.

“There’s a cultural issue around the willingness to enforce and enforce. Until that is resolved I am fearful we are not going to see any benefits to our rivers and river water quality,” Davies-Walsh added.

Resourcing and funding at NRW were only part of the problem, she said, as she called for stronger regulation and enforcement in Wales.

“It’s easy to cite that as a cause,” Davies-Walsh said, “but if there are budget constraints, mechanisms should be looked at to move NRW staff to prioritise enforcement over other areas.”

Cardigan wastewater treatment works, where untreated sewage entered coastal waters due to seawater ingress at the plant, was pointed to as a failure of the regulatory system.

Pillman described the speed of investment as unsatisfactory after NRW and the company were aware of the problem.

She explained the nature of regulatory cycles – together with optimism that alternative solutions would have been successful – meant the plant rebuild will not begin until 2025.

The company was aware of saline intrusion for eight years and had attempted upgrades before ultimately deciding to rebuild the site.

Steve Wilson, managing director of wastewater services at Welsh, described the series of interventions the company embarked upon to block seawater from the sewer network. “In hindsight,” he said, “we should have jumped to that sooner, but we tried to find a better value route first.”

Additional treatment processes have been added to improve the quality of stormwater that is discharged to a “practically treated standard” until the replacement plant is operational in 2027.