The Environment Agency has responded to national media reports that just 3.6% of complaints about pollution, fly-tipping, oil spills, fish kills and other environmental damage last year resulted in penalties for those responsible.

The Guardian newspaper made the request for figures under a Freedom of Information request but this morning (July 210 the EA responded with an extensive list of statistics.

In a report sent to Nub News it stated:

"Last year, the Environment Agency dealt with 76,777 environmental incidents across the country – the equivalent of one every seven minutes. Every single one of these incidents are fully investigated by our dedicated officers, and we never hesitate to take action against those responsible.

"As a result of prosecutions we took in 2018, the courts fined businesses and individuals almost £2.8 million for environmental offences. We also saw 52 enforcement undertakings completed by operators, leading to environmental groups receiving almost £2.1 million.

"On fly-tipping, local authorities have a range of powers at their disposal, such as issuing on-the-spot fines and to stop, search and seize vehicles suspected of being used for fly-tipping. In 2018/19, local authorities carried out 2,397 prosecutions for fly-tipping, with over 96% resulting in conviction. The number of fixed penalty notices issued also continues to increase, up 11% to 76,000 from the previous period.

" In the last year alone, we handled 76,777 environmental incidents across the country – one every seven minutes – ranging from floods, oil spills and fish kills. All incidents are taken extremely seriously and every single report is investigated by our dedicated officers.

"We will always seek to hold to account those responsible for serious environmental harm. In 2018/19, we prosecuted 77 counts of waste crime, resulting in eight prison sentences and nearly £450,000 of fines, and won five successful prosecutions against water companies, with total fines of over £2 million."