Environmental law

A retired plant nursery owner has received a small fine for allowing waste pesticides to enter a watercourse, though has been forced to pay £25,000 in costs to the Environment Agency

It has been all change at DEFRA since Boris Johnson became prime minister in July. Here’s what you need to know about the department’s new ministerial team

Anglian Water has been fined £146,000 for polluting a Northamptonshire stream with sewage two years ago

Contaminated medical waste is still present in a building in North Tyneside, nine months after Healthcare Environmental Services (HES) went bust, the Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed

Newly appointed junior environment minister Rebecca Pow will take on responsibility for climate adaptation, nature, water and waste, according to DEFRA

Firms who turn waste into new products could be in line for significant extra costs as a result of the Environment Agency’s review of end-of-waste criteria. Conor McGlone investigates

All new development in England will soon be required to offset any natural habitat that is damaged or destroyed, and if it cannot deliver this onsite or locally, developers will need to pay into a government-run system. James Agyepong-Parsons speaks to the experts about how this will work in practice

A farmer, accused of “industrial-scale environmental destruction” after clearing six miles of dry stone wall to create a ‘prairie’, is under investigation for a suspected breach of environmental impact assessment regulations. James Fair examines their value

Closely-linked chemical plants operated by Shell and ExxonMobil in Fife have been ordered to make upgrades to cut the frequency of flaring. Gareth Simkins looks into why the Scottish Environment Protection Agency took action

Planning permission for new houses in South Hampshire has all but ground to a halt following Natural England advice on the damaging impact of extra nitrates on protected sites. But councils are now proposing solutions. Simon Pickstone investigates