Diary of a principal consultant – Jessica Morgan-Smith

Here at MPG, we have over 30 years of experience within the planning and permitting of mineral and waste sites.

During this time, we’ve worked on hundreds of projects across the UK, with both major operators – such as Breedon Group Plc – and smaller, independent firms. We’re extremely proud of our wealth of expertise within the sector, and the great work we carry out is all thanks to the people behind the brand.

We live and breathe this specialist sector, so our latest blog series aims to give a flavour of what it’s like to be a mineral, waste, and environmental consultant – the type of work we carry out and, essentially, what a typical week looks like.

Not only do we aim to inspire the next generation of mineral and waste consultants with our honest diary entries, but it’s a great opportunity to get to know the MPG team a little better, too!

Next up, we have Jessica Morgan-Smith – our principal consultant.

Monday

Every Monday starts with a weekly catch-up meeting with all staff to have a run-through ongoing projects, new projects, and other important matters such as which day the coffee lady will be visiting the office that week.

The Environment Agency (EA) contacted us to inform us they couldn’t duly make a standard rule environmental permit application that we submitted in December last year, as our client had not provided the correct evidence for technical competence cover (TCM).

I called Ben from Health Safety & Environmental Compliance Services (HSEC) to discuss this, and he got WAMITAB onto it! I responded to the EA disagreeing with their interpretation and expect a response tomorrow.

Tuesday

I received a response from the EA regarding not duly making one of our permit applications. They have agreed that their initial interpretation was not accurate, and the application was ‘duly made’.

Today, I needed to spend some time organising an upcoming exhibition we’re attending – finalising general details such as the lighting we require, access arrangements, and stand planning. I also contacted a few people in the industry who might be attending our stand for a guest spot.

Wednesday

This morning, I made an early visit to a potential client looking for a permit variation and update to their environmental management system (EMS).

The site visit included a superficial audit to assess the general compliance of the operator and to establish the likelihood of a successful permit variation to include additional European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes on their permit.

Thursday

Today, myself and my colleague Sheena visited a client with a metal recycling site to carry out a visit.

The client has asked us to review their management system, following the approval of a permit to increase the tonnage at the site.

We carried out an inspection, took lots of photos, and had a meeting with the client to run through our questions and any areas of concern they had.

Following this, I met Tina Jackson – from Jackson Consultants – to discuss a few projects we have lined up and a mineral and waste networking event for later in the year.

Friday

I’m not in work on Fridays, so today I was off enjoying half-term with my two children.

If you’d like to find out more about the people behind the brand at MPG, head over to our team page. And if you have any queries at all, please get in touch with the friendly team, here!