Nature is in crisis and we firmly believe polluters causing damage to the environment must make amends, including through clean-up operations and fines.

Pollution events are one of the biggest threats to our freshwater wildlife, while they also take up huge amounts of time and money. These incidents are unacceptable and companies need better processes in place to minimise possible risks to the environment.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust welcomes the deterrent effect that Enforcement Undertakings have on polluters. We hope that the announcement by Defra on lifting the cap on fine restrictions will prevent further incidents of pollution in our rivers, on land and around our coastline.

Donations from civil sanctions can help us to protect special places, including nature reserves like Ripon City Wetlands where thousands of people flocked to see the starling murmurations earlier this year.

It is crucial that we all take responsibility for the natural world, especially businesses that operate in wild places. We will continue to use our voice and the support of our 46,000 members to stop pollution from happening in the first place and will work with others to protect and improve waterways across Yorkshire for people and wildlife.

More information

• In Yorkshire, over 200 of our plant, bird, moth and butterfly species are nationally threatened and could face extinction.
• Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is working right across Yorkshire to protect and restore precious local wild places, including 111 nature reserves, to give our wildlife a chance to survive and thrive. We are also championing 1 in 4 people across Yorkshire to take positive action for nature.
• The idea behind the Civil Sanctions approach to environmental pollution was that it is better for the funding to contribute to remediating, restoring and enhancing the natural environment rather than potential fines going into the Treasury. Many environmental groups believe that this helps to address the impact of some pollution events. The enforcing and regulating authorities always have the option of prosecution and we support this approach.
• The voluntary donations that the Trust receives through these civil sanctions enforced by the Environment Agency will catalyse some significant and positive work for Yorkshire’s wildlife.
• The Environment Agency’s press release can be found here.
• Defra's press release on unlimited penalties can be found here.