{"id":368,"date":"2026-02-20T11:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/?p=368"},"modified":"2026-03-02T10:21:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T10:21:05","slug":"environment-agency-confirms-50-increase-to-its-enforcement-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/environment-agency-confirms-50-increase-to-its-enforcement-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Environment Agency confirms 50% increase to its enforcement budget"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/div>\n

\"environment-agency\"<\/h4>\n

The Environment Agency has confirmed its enforcement budget has risen to \u00a315.6 million, a 50% increase, and announced a suite of new measures to tackle waste crime.<\/h4>\n

The measures include a new package of surveillance, detection and investigative capabilities to tackle waste crime.<\/p>\n

This includes investing in a new fleet of drones to track illegal waste sites from the air. Some of the 33 drones will be upgraded to carry laser mapping technology that allows operators to capture\u00a0evidence\u00a0of illegal activity.<\/p>\n

Light Detection and Ranging technology is currently flown from a dedicated aircraft mainly to capture flood information.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency says moving the technology onto drones will enable more precise mapping of illegal waste sites, which can be used as evidence in court.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the announcement, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: \u201cThis government is aggressively pursuing waste criminals and bringing offenders to justice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy increasing the Environment Agency\u2019s enforcement budget by over 50% to \u00a315.6 million,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0investing in\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0technology that allows us to shut down illegal operators faster and more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency has also announced a new screening tool that enables officers to cross-check lorry applications against waste permit records.<\/p>\n

The new tool has been trialled in East Anglia, where the Environment Agency said it helped officers uncover\u00a0a\u00a0waste company\u00a0that had secretly\u00a0relocated\u00a0its HGV operations\u00a0to evade enforcement.<\/p>\n

The software flagged the new operating centre within a week, allowing them to intervene before a licence was\u00a0approved.<\/p>\n

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime has also recruited seven more specialists, including former police officers, to increase its workforce to 20.<\/p>\n

Phil Davies, Head of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime Unit, commented:\u00a0\u201cWith organised criminals becoming ever more sophisticated, we are\u00a0adopting\u00a0new technologies\u00a0to find and, importantly, stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the greater use of drones,\u00a0stronger\u00a0partnerships and more officers\u00a0on the ground, we will build on\u00a0our action so far and send\u00a0a clear message to those\u00a0committing waste crimes\u00a0\u2013\u00a0we will stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Environment Agency confirms 50% increase to its enforcement budget<\/a> appeared first on Circular Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The Environment Agency has confirmed its enforcement budget has risen to \u00a315.6 million, a 50% increase, and announced a suite of new measures to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gokupara.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}