Environment Agency

The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body, established in 1995 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment in England .Roles and responsibilitiesPurposeThe Environment Agency's stated purpose is, "to protect or enhance the environment, taken as a whole"'' so as to promote "the objective of achieving sustainable development" (taken from the Environment Act 1995, section 4). Protection of the environment relates to threats such as flood and pollution. The vision of the Agency is of "a rich, healthy and diverse environment for present and future generations".ScopeThe Environment Agency's remit covers the whole of England, about 13 million hectares of land, 22000mi of river and 3100mi of coastline seawards to the three-mile limit which includes 2 million hectares of coastal waters. In a sharing arrangement with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), it also exercises some of its functions over parts of the catchments of the River Tweed and the Border Esk which are, for the most part, in Scotland