Posted on 06/24/2026 6:35:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
A river campaigner who organised a cleanup of his local waterway is being threatened with prosecution by the Environment Agency for acting illegally.
Paul Powlesland, a lawyer and environmental campaigner, organised a team of volunteers to tackle the removal of litter, weed and silt from a section of the River Roding, after repeatedly asking the agency to act.
The team of volunteers from the River Roding Trust removed 200 bags of rubbish, branches and silt over 10 days from Alders Brook, a tributary of the river that runs through rural Essex and Barking, earlier this year. But the EA has sent Powlesland a letter saying he is being investigated for illegally intervening without a permit.
“We consider that unpermitted works have taken place … in contravention of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.” read the letter, seen by the Guardian. It added: “The site is currently under investigation for permitting and waste offences.” .
The EA alleges dredging has been carried out and waste has been left on site within the flood plain, constituting a flood risk activity under the regulations that would have required an environmental permit. Carrying out the work without one is an offence, it states.
The agency said it was carrying out additional investigations to see if further relevant information came to light – including whether Powlesland and volunteers had committed other offences and the environmental impact of the offence.
Powlesland, who lives on a boat on the Roding, said he asked the EA to clean up the river several times over many years, but it had not acted.
“After decades of ignoring rampant environmental crime on the Roding, the Environment Agency has finally decided to act,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
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Lefties don’t like it when you take away their weed.
Bureaucrats don’t like it when you muscle in on their territory...................
> Paul Powlesland, a lawyer and environmental campaigner, organised a team of volunteers to tackle the removal of litter… <
I saw the problem as soon as I read that sentence. This happened in the UK.
This guy should have started off by legally changing his first name to Mohammed. Then this whole mess could have been avoided. He might even have been knighted by King Charlie for his clean-up efforts.
So it’s actually all his fault.
🤔
Of course they show a picture with one tire. The limbs and grass stuff they moved may have slowed the water reducing erosion.
It’s not about the environment.
It’s about the Grift.
It’s about POWER.
They were embarrassed by this guy so might lose some power and that cannot stand............
This is an agency that should be totally eliminated,
Britain needs a bloody revolution.
They have been disarmed. It would have to be called "The Butterknife Revolution".
Don’t embarrass the government, you will be punished.
It would have likely been much more productive for society there and for the environment if they had gone to the offices of the environmental bureaucrat parasites and “cleaned up” there...tossing out all of the “trash”.
Hey! EPA regs only apply to Republicans!!!
Government at its finest. Are they embarrassed because someone DID THEIR JOB or because they COULD NOT DO THEIR JOB and punished those actually cleaning up the river?
That’s it they are embarrassed. Don’t ever embarrass a bureaucrat...........
“a tributary of the river that runs through rural Essex and Barking”
“Historically, Barking was an ancient parish and riverside town in the traditional county of Essex. However, since the London Government Act of 1965, it has been part of Greater London.”
WHO THE HELL CARES???
Its F-ING ENGLAND!
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