Agency to consider metal theft convictions when deciding on environmental permits

Individuals convicted of any crime relating to metal theft will be barred from working legitimately in the scrap business from April 2012, the Environment Minister has said.

Lord Taylor also announced proposals that – from April 2013 – would see anyone convicted of transporting stolen metal have their carrier registration removed.

Convictions relating to pollution, harm to the environment or nuisance to nearby communities have previously been the only areas allowed to be taken into consideration by the Environment Agency when deciding whether a person or business is a ‘suitable person’ to run a waste facility or act as a waste carrier.

The minister said: “Stolen metal will be too hot to handle. Mindless criminals who steal from our railways and historic buildings, and the scrap dealers who fuel the market, are causing misery and anger for countless people.

“We’ll purge the industry of rotten elements by flushing them out of legitimate businesses, or shutting dodgy businesses down altogether.”

Environment Agency Chief Executive Paul Leinster welcomed the wider range of convictions that would be available to the organisation when deciding whether to issue or remove environmental permits.

He said: “This builds on work we are doing to support the British Transport Police’s crackdown on metal theft and our on-going work to tackle illegal waste sites. Waste crime puts people and the environment at risk and undercuts legitimate businesses who take their environmental responsibilities seriously.”

Last week the government unveiled plans to create a new criminal offence that prohibits cash payments to purchase scrap metal.

It also intends to increase “significantly” the fines for all offences under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964, which regulates the scrap metal recycling industry.

The government has committed £5m to establish a dedicated taskforce to improve law enforcement activity over metal theft.