Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what powers are available to local authorities to take action against businesses that have illegally deposited fats, oils and greases into the sewerage system.

Mr. Bradshaw: Under section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (ERA), it is an offence to deposit controlled waste without a waste management licence or to dispose of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health. It will be for the enforcing authority to decide whether an offence might have been committed and whether or not to prosecute a business, in line with its enforcement policy and the evidence and circumstances of the individual case.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to check their areas for existing and potential statutory nuisances under section 79 of the ERA. Once satisfied that a statutory nuisance does or may in the future occur, a local authority must serve an abatement notice, under section 80 of the ERA, requiring that the nuisance be ceased or abated within a specified time scale. Statutory nuisance can include “any premises in such a state as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance”; and “any dust, steam smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises” and “any accumulation or deposit” which is prejudicial to health or a nuisance.

Building regulations state that drainage systems should be provided in such a way that they function properly without causing blockages or nuisance. Section 59 of the Building Act 1984, enforceable by local authorities, requires that drainage systems remain satisfactory while in use.