Yorkshire regulated sites

On 27 June 2025 Wakefield Council refused a planning application by Mineral Processing Ltd to extend operation at the site for a further 10 years.

On 4 July 2025, Wakefield Council also served a breach of condition notice around the current planning permission. This notice means that all operations must cease at the site except for those required by the suspension notice.

There is no right of appeal for this notice and if Mineral Processing Ltd do not comply with this notice, they will be committing an offence

We continue to work closely with Wakefield Council to use our joint regulatory powers in the most consistent and effective way to bring about improvements at this site.

Throughout June, we have made a number of visits to the Mineral Processing Ltd site at South Elmsall along with West Yorkshire Police to check for vehicle movements. During our visits we did not witness any vehicles arriving at the site.

We are immediately taking action to revoke the environmental permit for this site.

We have served a revocation notice for Mineral Processing Ltd. The notice was issued on 5 June 2025 and comes into force on 4 July 2025 (subject to appeal). One of the reasons we have made the decision to revoke the permit is because Mineral Processing Ltd has made no progress in meeting the conditions of the suspension notice

On 3 June 2025, the Planning Inspectorate announced that they have dismissed the appeal that Mineral Processing Ltd made against our decision to issue a suspension notice at their South Elmsall site. We have been pleased to note that the Planning Inspectorate agrees with our decision, based on thorough evidence collected by our teams. The suspension notice remains in place and we will continue to monitor compliance with the notice.

On 15 and 17 April 2025, Environment Agency officers, together with West Yorkshire Police, followed up on concerns about vehicles still arriving at the site while the suspension notice is in force. The operation was to monitor vehicle movements to and from the site. While none arrived while partners were present, we will continue to act upon the information we receive. We will continue to investigate movements to and from the site. We will take action to prevent and disrupt this activity as part of our intelligence-led enforcement approach.

If you suspect an individual or company is committing a waste crime, tell us what you know by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org and use the 'Environmental Crime' tag. This will protect the safety of the public and ensure timely capture of information.

We are not able to comment further on our enforcement action currently. However, we take offending seriously and act in accordance with our enforcement and sanctions policy. We are assessing all our enforcement options, which may include revoking the permit. We will provide a further update when we are able.

Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy

To build a more accurate picture of the potential impact the site is having on air quality, we are carrying out proactive air quality monitoring.

We have installed a Mobile Monitoring Facility (MMF), which will be in situ for approximately four months, collecting continuous measurements of hydrogen sulphide (H2S), methane (CH4) and particulates