In an interesting case involving an appeal over a proposal to withdraw an environmental permit, the Planning Inspectorate has upheld a decision by the Environment Agency.

The case involved the operation of a waste site in Dudley, the Oakham Environmental Waste & Recycling Centre, which ran a waste transfer station and skip business at Oak Farm, Kingswinford.

Its permit was revoked by the Environment Agency in May 2013 following a series of breaches.

The firm, which was originally granted the permit in January 2011, was found to be storing too much waste on site, had no technically competent manager, and had waste tipped and stored outside the appropriate bunkers and outside the permitted area, according to the Agency.

The Environment Agency has explained that it is cracking down on poorly performing waste sites by requiring operators to stop operations if they are not competent to run the sites properly.

By removing permits from operators, the Environment Agency says it is preventing further waste activities at such sites, even where prosecution cases have not begun. This is necessary to tackle problem sites and their impact on legitimate businesses and the environment, it claims.