New publications this month:

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (DEFRA)

Understanding biodiversity net gain

This guidance now reflects that the planned introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England has been deferred from November 2025 to May 2026.

Statutory biodiversity credit prices

This guidance now reflects that VAT will not be charged on BNG credits.

Sell biodiversity units as a land manager

Landowners must check whether screening decision is required before registering land as a BNG site.

Invasive non-native (alien) animal species: rules in England and Wales

Revisions to this guidance provide further information on requirements for the transfer of listed invasive non-native animals and enforcement measures available.

Interim position statement on the approach to PMT concept to support UK REACH risk management of PFAS

Interim policy concerns the identification and management of persistent, mobile, toxic (PMT) substances, including intentions regarding the managing risks of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under UK REACH.

DEFRA / PACKUK

Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging: 2025 base fees

Base years have been published for the first year (2025 to 2026) of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging. Base fees are applied per tonne of packaging placed on the market.

These fees are separate to registration fees under the EPR and costs from meeting packaging recycling targets, with the latter needing to be met through the acquisition of packaging waste recycling notes or packaging recycling export notes.

A supporting Fee Modulation Policy Statement sets out plans to modulate household packaging disposal fees under the EPR, with the intention of supporting more sustainable packaging.

PackUK Regulatory Position Statement: Common 2025 recyclability assessment requirements

This statement provides a regulatory position regarding 2025 H1 recyclability assessments for packaging producers. It states how PackUK will interpret compliance where H1 data is not submitted, and how H2 data may be used instead.

The UK-wide statement also explains how this recyclability assessments will influence modulated fees for the 2026 to 2027 period. Three regulatory position statements also concern England, Wales  and Northern Ireland respectively:

• Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) recyclability assessment obligations: RPS 350 (England), due for withdrawal on 31 January 2027.
• Natural Resources Wales / Regulatory Decision 114: pEPR producer data requirements (Wales), due for withdrawal on 31 December 2026.
• NIEA: Regulatory Position Statement: Liable producers’ pEPR recyclability assessment obligations for January to June 2025 (Northern Ireland), due for withdrawal on 31 January 2027.

DEFRA AND ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

Packaging data: what to collect for extended producer responsibility

Updated guidance is provided to small producers under EPR.

Control and monitor emissions for your environmental permit

Dust emissions management plans must now be prepared within 1km of an Air Quality management Area (AQMA). This requirement previously applied sites within 2km of an AQMA.

DEPARTMENT FOR ENERGY SECURITY AND NET ZERO

Solar roadmap

This document collects industry and government actions to further the deployment of solar across the UK.

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

ESOS: MESOS Reporting System Update

The MESOS reporting system now includes functionality to enable progress update reporting under ESOS Phase 3. An initial progress update 1 (PU1) template has been made available to support organisations with update obligations. The deadline for progress update 1 is 5 December 2025.

Hazardous waste: consignee returns guidance (England)

Consignee return requirements that are subject to reduced reporting and charge obligations now reflect RPS 157 (storing, treating and using asphalt waste) for asphalt waste containing coal tar that has been  treated in accordance with this RPS.

Choosing waste exemptions for waste management activity

The former term ‘bulk registration’ has been replaced with ‘multiple site registration’ for waste exemptions undertaken across more than one location.

Reservoir incident and safety: notify the Environment Agency of a potential concern

Information is provided on reporting anything unusual or that may be a safety concern regarding reservoirs or dams.

Appeal a regulatory decision from the Environment Agency

Further information is provided on enforcement undertakings. Additional information is also provided on what should be sent alongside appeals.

Land contamination risk management (LCRM)

This guidance reflects it is now also applicable to Scotland. Updated information has also been provided to improve clarity.

Drought: how it is managed in England

Information on how the Environment Agency manages water resources during a drought in England has been updated.

Waste Exemptions

• U1 waste exemption: using waste in construction: Updated to clarify activities that can and cannot be undertaken.
• U12 waste exemption: using mulch: Registration rules are clarified, including regarding exemptions for linear networks.
• D1 waste exemption: depositing waste from dredging inland waters: Updated to clarify rules for registration and to provide further information on registering linear networks.
• D2 waste exemption: depositing waste from train toilets: Further information is provided on registering railways as a linear network under this exemption.
• T6 waste exemption: treating waste wood and plant matter: This document has been updated to clarify it, including registration rules and further details of activities that may and may not be undertaken.

Regulatory Position Statements (RPSs)

The following RPSs were published or updated during June 2025:

• Storing, treating and using asphalt waste: RPS 157: Updated to improve clarity, including RPS 75 using treated asphalt waste, plus other changes including a duty to notify the Environment Agency every time the RPS is used. The next review date is 31 December 2026.
• Voluntary litter collection and waste management: RPS 212: Updated, including a new condition to reflect an obligation to transfer stored litter to permitted sites. The next review date is 31 October 2026.
• Low risk impounding activities: RPS 302: Updated to improve clarity, plus adding habitat restoration, nature-based solutions and natural flood risk management technique activities; and an activity to allow for larger weirs and structures to be removed. The next review date is 25 June 2028.
• Exceeding waste storage limits at permitted sites: RPS 352: New. The next review date is set as 30 September 2025.
• Storing and dismantling waste domestic gas meters: RPS 338: New, replaces the former storing and dismantling waste domestic gas meters Low Risk Waste Position (LRWP) 11. The next review date is set as 1 April 2028.

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE

UK Sustainability Reporting Standards

This guidance now reflects consultations underway regarding exposure drafts of the UK versions of IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures), plus the development of an oversight regime for assurance of sustainability-related financial disclosures.

Industrial Strategy

In June 2025, the government published a new industry strategy. This is supported by sector plans for eight high-growth sectors: Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries, Clean Energy Industries, Digital and Technologies, Professional and Business Services, Life Sciences, Financial Services and Defence.

DEFRA AND NATURAL ENGLAND

Management plans for Protected Landscapes in England

Information is provided on the preparation and review of management plans for these landscapes.

DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

IT Reuse for Good charter

Signatories to this new charter commit to a ‘reuse first’ approach to IT assets, which has the potential to deliver significant environmental impact reductions and social benefits.

WELSH GOVERNMENT

A 30by30 framework for Wales

This framework sets out how the Welsh Government intends to protect 30% of land, freshwater and sea for people and nature by 2030. This includes criteria determining which areas count against the target and how to assess whether the targets have been met by the 2030 deadline.

Collections blueprint 2025

This blueprint provides recommendations to Welsh local authorities on their approach to collecting waste and resources, while preparing for reuse, recycling and other waste management treatments.

Onshore petroleum licensing: guidance

Guidance for onshore petroleum exploration and development has been updated.

SCOTTISH ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY (SEPA)

Land contamination risk management (LCRM)

This updated guidance is now also applicable to Scotland. A supporting information note concerns the use of the LCRM guidance in Scotland, which must also be applied with reference to SEPA’s contaminated land guidance.

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

NPF4 planning guidance: policy 2 - climate mitigation and adaptation

The guidance document aims to support the delivery of Policy 2 of National Planning Framework 4, which concerns climate mitigation and adaptation in the context of development planning.

Farmer fined for polluting a river in Somerset with silt

A Taunton potato farmer has been prosecuted for causing silt, soil and potatoes to escape from a field and seriously pollute a tributary of the River Tone.

On 7 September 2022, an Environment Agency officer identified sediment pollution to the Back Stream watercourse in Combe Florey. A considerable length of the bed of the watercourse was covered in a thick layer of sediment. The officer traced the pollution to a large field where soil had run off the field down onto the A358 and into the Back Stream.

That year the field had been rented by the farmer to grow potatoes, which had not yet been harvested when the pollution occurred. Thunderstorms and wet weather conditions resulted in the loss of an estimated 50-100 tonnes of soil from the field.

Large numbers of potatoes could be seen in the watercourse and along the edge of the roadside, along with the significant quantities of silt and mud. The A358 had to be closed on two occasions to clear drains and remove tonnes of soil from the road.

Soil deposited under a railway bridge was so deep it prevented vehicles from being able to use the A358.

Environment Agency investigations found that there had also been an earlier incident in August 2022, which had also closed the A358. Following the initial incident in August, the farmer was provided with silt fencing alongside guidance and advice paid for by the Somerset Rivers Authority. Only a small section of fencing was used and this was not installed according to the guidance given.

A small number of hay bales and a soil bund had been installed at the bottom of the field in an attempt to prevent further soil from leaving the field. It was also established that the potatoes had mainly been planted up and down the sloping field which significantly increased the risk of soil erosion and run off.

The farmer had control and custody of the land he rented up until the point of harvest and was therefore responsible for the land management practices.

Breaches

The farmer pleaded guilty to causing silt laden water to enter a stream on two occasions in August 2022 and again in September 2022. This constituted knowingly causing or permitting an unpermitted water discharge activity, namely the discharge of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter into inland fresh water.

Penalty

The farmer was ordered to pay a total of £9,078 in fines and costs based on his means as disclosed to the court. The court heard that other clean up, equipment purchases and compensation to the landowner, already paid by the farmer, have totalled over £35,000.

The farmer agreed to pay compensation of £1,128.10 to a motorist for their losses as a result of the incident.

Waste permit revoked by the Environment Agency

Mineral Processing Ltd’s permit for their facility at South Elmsall was revoked on 3 June 2025, after an appeal against an Environment Agency suspension notice was dismissed.

The suspension notice means that, once the revocation takes effect, Mineral Processing Ltd must cease all activities authorised by the permit. The company must also take steps set out in the notice to remove waste. If it does not comply with the notice, it will be committing an offence.

Mineral Processing Ltd had 20 working days to appeal the decision through the Planning Inspectorate. If an appeal is made against the revocation, the permit will remain in place until the outcome of the appeal.

Planning Inspectorate dismissed earlier suspension notice appeal

On 3 June 2025, the Planning Inspectorate dismissed the appeal made against the Environment Agency’s decision to issue a suspension notice at the site. This means the suspension notice, which was originally issued in June 2024, remains in place.

The Planning Inspectorate agreed that the waste on site exceeded the permitted amount ‘by some considerable margin’.

The decision also established that waste was being misdescribed: waste had been brought to the site that was not allowed by the permit. Environment Agency testing in 2022 found hazardous substances, which were not permitted.

The Planning Inspectorate agreed there is a risk of pollution from leachate entering ground waters and surface waters, waste escaping from the site as dust and litter, odour from deposited waste and a risk to human health or the environment from increased methane levels.

Further Environment Agency investigations

As well as revoking the permit, the Environment Agency is investigating suspected offences since the suspension notice was issued. The regulator is assessing enforcement options, which may include serving further enforcement notices and prosecution.

Work underway by the Environment Agency includes:

• Odour monitoring in the area to collect evidence to determine the impact on the environment and community;
• Requiring the operator to submit an Odour Management Plan to address ongoing odour pollution; and
• Continuing to inspect the site and recording permit breaches, as well as acting on intelligence to carry out proactive operations around vehicle movements.

Fines for pair who fly tipped in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape

Two individuals have been prosecuted for fly-tipping at Coed Moel Famau, near Ruthin, following an investigation led by Fly Tipping Action Wales in conjunction with Natural Resources Wales.

On 11 November 2024, a Ranger from Clywdian Range and Dee Valley National Landscape discovered six bags of dumped waste on Natural Resources Wales-managed land at Moel Famau. The bags were retrieved and examined. Identifying materials were found among the rubbish, including packaging and personal items linking the waste to the two defendants.

Following initial contact from Natural Resources Wales officers, both individuals failed to attend voluntary interviews at Denbigh Police Station. They were later issued with statutory notices requiring them to attend on 19 December 2024. During these formal interviews, neither could give a satisfactory explanation as to how their waste ended up at the site.

While both claimed that a business had been contracted to remove their rubbish, it was discovered that the supposed arrangement only began on the day of the interviews, casting doubt on their statements.

Breach

The pair pleaded guilty to offences under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

• Section 33 prohibits the unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal, etc., of waste.

Penalty

Both defendants received Band D fines. The woman was ordered to pay a total of £938. The man received a higher penalty of £1,830.

Both were ordered to repay the amounts in monthly instalments of £100.