Regulation must keep pace with current and emerging industries and be agile to the challenges driven by the climate, nature and pollution emergencies, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) said on 2nd December 2024, as it published its annual regulation report.
NRW oversees the regulation of businesses and industries across a wide range of sectors in Wales, from water companies to waste management sites. It is also at the forefront of responding to the growing number of incidents driven by climate change, nature’s decline and pollution.
Published annually, the Regulation Report provides a comprehensive review of its regulatory and enforcement activities across this remit for the 2023 calendar year, covering incident response, permitting and licensing, compliance, crime and enforcement and sanctioning actions.
The main findings of the report covering the 2023 calendar year are:
- NRW was notified of 8,505 incidents – up 17% from 2022.
- 1,290 incidents were ‘high level’ requiring an immediate response
- NRW attended 29% of all incidents in 2023 – comparable to previous years, despite dealing with over 1,000 more incidents.
- 39% of all reported incidents (3,318) were water-related (pollution, reservoirs, abstraction, blockage or alteration to a watercourse) – up 8% from 2022.
- Water discharge compliance checks increased to 649 – up 37% from 2022
- There was a 48% increase in the number of intensive farming compliance checks in 2023
- There were 831 new enforcement cases in 2023, comprising 799 offenders, with 1,267 separate enforcement charges
- The number of waste and installations compliance visits has fallen in 2023, by 10% and 5% respectively, compared to 2022.
Nadia De Longhi, Head of Regulation and Permitting at NRW said:
“From the significant increase in the number of water and agricultural compliance inspections, to dealing with an increasing number of reported incidents, this report shows not only where our regulatory efforts are making a difference, but where the challenges facing regulators like NRW are accelerating.
“Public expectation to protect our environment has never been higher, but we are also committed to regulating to high standards. This is why we have put minimising pollution at the heart of our corporate plan, highlighting what we can do ourselves, but also where we will need to work with others to ensure nature and people are protected from the risks and impacts of pollution and environmental incidents now, and in the future.”
