The enforcer

摘要

Emma Howard Boyd greets me in the Environment Agency’s (EA) new home which it shares with DEFRA, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It’s a bright, bland place with military-grade security and Kafkaesque entrance procedures. Once you’ve negotiated the scanners, the ticketing system and provided photo ID you must navigate your way through a bank of glass tubes. My chaperone tells me the procedure frustrates staff too and that he frequently cannot summon the grit required to pop out for a sandwich at lunchtime.