News
Planning, development and environmental consultancy updates.
Read practical EnviroSolution articles covering planning conditions, contaminated land, coal mining risk, drainage, asbestos, ecology, energy assessment and other technical topics affecting UK development projects.
Environment Act review finds delivery still uneven across key reforms
Defra’s five-year review says the Environment Act 2021 has established its main legal framework, but implementation and evidence gaps remain across waste, water, air quality and biodiversity.
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Environment Agency consults on seven construction-focused permitting exemptions
The Environment Agency is seeking views until 29 December 2026 on seven proposed environmental-permitting exemptions for lower-risk construction activities in England, including temporary water discharges, groundwater treatment and flood-risk works.
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Bickershaw waste clearance moves into its most sensitive phase
Health support for residents and the start of waste removal at Bolton House Road bring environmental-health controls, transport planning and long-term site recovery into sharper focus.
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Environment Agency moves intensive-farm ammonia screening to SCAIL Agriculture
England’s Environment Agency has replaced its previous ammonia screening tool with SCAIL Agriculture for intensive pig and poultry permit work, introducing screening distances linked to a farm’s total ammonia emissions.
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Upper Heyford PFAS findings put 9,000-home plan under sharper scrutiny
Developer-commissioned investigations at former RAF Upper Heyford have identified significant PFAS contamination, increasing the importance of phased monitoring, source control and transparent remediation evidence before further sensitive development proceeds.
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Anglian Water’s £29.5m ground-investigation framework reaches bid close
Anglian Water’s proposed five-lot framework for intrusive ground investigation, groundwater work and specialist geoenvironmental services has moved beyond its tender deadline, signalling a substantial forthcoming pipeline of site characterisation work across the company’s major infrastructure programme.
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Storm Boelo exposes short-notice resilience gaps on UK sites
Storm Boelo’s wind, rainfall, flooding and power impacts are a practical reminder that construction and operational resilience plans must work at short notice, not simply sit within project documents.
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Epping Forest butchery appeal dismissed despite favourable Green Belt case
An Inspector found that the benefits of a proposed rural cutting plant outweighed Green Belt harm, but dismissed the appeal after air-quality evidence failed to provide the necessary certainty over effects on Epping Forest SAC.
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Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce starts work ahead of winter
England’s resilience planning is moving towards a more joined-up view of flood and drought risk, but the new taskforce does not itself create new duties for developers or infrastructure owners.
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BGS ConSEPT record refresh highlights limits of local-authority contaminated-land data
A refreshed BGS catalogue entry for local-authority ConSEPT contaminated-land work confirms the value of combining geological, borehole, water-well, historic land-use and landfill evidence, while underlining that commercially confidential project material may not be available for wider reuse.
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HSE campaign renews focus on preventing workplace noise and vibration harm
HSE’s new campaign asks employers to identify noise and vibration exposure early, control it at source and use health surveillance and PPE properly where risks remain.
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Mining Remediation Authority opens £11.28m technical services framework
The Mining Remediation Authority has launched a four-lot framework for mine-water, environmental, engineering and delivery-support consultancy across Great Britain. Suppliers have until 6 November 2026 to submit tenders.
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