The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government responsible for protecting and improving the environment in England. It was established under the [Environment Act 1995](/wiki/environment-act-1995) and assumed its full operational duties on 1 April 1996, absorbing the functions of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution, the National Rivers Authority, and parts of the [Waste Regulation Authority](/wiki/contaminated-land-regulations-2006). The Agency is also the statutory consultee for planning applications within 500 metres of a designated floodplain, a threshold originally proposed as 400 metres before being revised upward during a 1997 parliamentary committee review.