Environment Agency tells staff to ignore pollution complaints, says ex-employee

Helen Nightingale, a former Catchment Planning Officer Environment Agency, says staff are ‘demoralised’ at watching the declining health of rivers. Photograph: Channel 4

England’s rivers will continue to deteriorate unless the Environment Agency stops “shutting down” the public’s calls about pollution, according to an ex-employee who worked at the agency for three decades.

Officers are told to ignore calls from the public and told not to look at possible incidents if the caller thinks they are lower impact, meaning they fall into so-called category 3 or 4. This has left staff “demoralised” says Helen Nightingale, a catchment planner in north-west Lancashire who left the Environment Agency in April.