Illegal waste dumping has outstripped the Environment Agency's enforcement powers, according to a new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The committee says the current regulatory system is not working well enough to support either nature recovery or economic growth, and warns that regulators are being asked to manage too much change with too few resources.

The EA is currently restricted to pursuing criminal prosecutions against operators of illegal waste sites, a process the PAC describes as lengthy and expensive. It has no civil enforcement powers to shut down illegal operations quickly. Intelligence gaps compound the problem. In one case at Kidlington in Oxfordshire, the EA acted once it received "confirmed intelligence" of illegal dumping, but local bodies had been aware of the issue for weeks beforehand.

The PAC is calling on the EA to work more effectively with police and local authorities, an ability it says the agency currently lacks. The report comes just days after the government announced plans to give the EA police-style enforcement powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and backed enforcement activity with an additional £45 million over three years.

"The UK has obvious and glaring problems with how environmental regulation is delivered," said Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the Public Accounts Committee. "Without deeper co-operation with police and local authorities, illegal waste is still liable to be an out-of-control plague on our communities."

Regulators and reform

Beyond waste crime, the report raises broader concerns about the capacity of Defra, the EA and Natural England to manage simultaneous reform programmes. The three bodies are responding to 149 recommendations from multiple independent reviews. The PAC finds that this volume of change activity does not appear well-coordinated, and questions whether regulators have the resources and skills to manage what is coming.

A lack of strategic direction from Defra is part of the problem, according to the committee. Without it, regulators cannot plan coherently or target resources effectively. The PAC is seeking a detailed plan from Defra showing how it intends to reshape the regulatory environment and what assurance it has that regulators can cope.

One of the report's most pointed recommendations is that Defra should consider merging the regulatory responsibilities of Natural England and the EA. The committee says the two bodies have overlapping functions, particularly around planning oversight and enforcement, and that a single organisation could present a more coherent face to the sectors that need to engage with environmental regulation. Clifton-Brown described it as "one obvious solution to reduce the complexity."

Farms and rural businesses are singled out as particularly poorly served. The PAC says they are not receiving enough guidance or support to comply with existing regulations, and that several upcoming changes will add further complexity. Reforms to environmental land management schemes, a planned 25-year vision for agriculture and the creation of a new water regulator will all require farmers to engage with regulators differently. The PAC wants the government to assess how these changes will affect farming and ensure adequate support is in place.

Nature Restoration Fund

The report also raises questions about the government's Nature Restoration Fund, which is intended to raise money and commission environmental improvement projects when building and infrastructure developments affect protected sites or species. The PAC says it has concerns about how the Fund will balance the need for development with protecting nature and biodiversity, and plans to maintain a watching brief as implementation progresses.

The report was published on 25 March 2026, one day after the government announced the EA's 10 Point Plan to address waste crime, which includes the creation of an Operational Waste Intelligence and Analysis Unit and, for the first time, the naming of illegal waste operators across the sector.