By Cameron Preskey.
I didn’t come from a regulatory or environmental background, but I’ve always had a deep-rooted passion for nature.
Growing up, I spent a lot of time gardening with my parents and grandparents, learning the value of patience, care, and respect for the natural world.
As my career progressed, I became increasingly aware of the pressures being placed on our environment and it felt like the right time to make a change.
Joining the Environment Agency was the natural next step. It offered the opportunity to align my career with my personal values and to contribute to something that really matters.
Stepping into a new career
Moving into the Water Industry Regulation (WIR) team was a significant shift for me. It was a completely new environment, but from the outset, the support I received made all the difference.
Over the past two years, I’ve been fortunate to work alongside colleagues who are not only highly knowledgeable but also incredibly passionate about what they do. Whether within my immediate team or across the wider Water Industry Regulation and Land & Water teams, there has always been a willingness to help, share knowledge, and support my development.
This collaborative environment has allowed me to bring my own skills and leadership style into the role, while also learning and adapting to the Environment Agency’s ways of working, systems, and technologies. As a result, I’ve been able to shape my Team Leader role into something that feels both authentic and effective.
Leading and learning
Joining a specialist regulatory team as a non-technical leader inevitably came with its challenges. But I'm privileged to lead a team of highly skilled Environment Officers, all of whom bring extensive technical expertise and a deep commitment to their work.
My priority is to create an environment where the team feels safe, supported, and confident. That means building trust, encouraging collaboration, and ensuring everyone has the tools and backing they need to succeed.
My day-to-day responsibilities are varied, but often include supporting officers in their professional development and accompanying them during on-site compliance inspections - giving me valuable insights into the challenges they face and helping me ensure health and safety standards are consistently maintained.
A key learning for me is that effective regulation in this sector is as much about building understanding as it is about enforcement. Supporting my team to know the companies they regulate, understand their assets and pressures, and use that knowledge to drive real outcomes is central to how we work. In 2025/26 alone, more than 10,000 inspections were completed nationally, uncovering over 3,000 permit condition breaches and resulting in more than 3,000 individual demands for improvement, from repairing sewage works to upgrading infrastructure. That combination of scrutiny and constructive challenge is already shifting water company behaviour, and it's what makes this work so critical.
Reflecting on the journey so far
Looking back over the past two years, there are three areas I feel particularly proud of.
The first is being part of building a new team from the ground up. Bringing individuals together, creating an inclusive environment, and seeing that team begin to deliver results and drive change has been incredibly rewarding.
The second is my role as portfolio lead for Communications and Engagement within our region. As a team, we’ve worked hard to improve how we communicate both internally and externally. By sharing more about the work we do, how we prepare, and the impact of our regulatory activity, we’re helping to raise awareness and demonstrate the positive difference this work makes to the environment and communities.
The third is our shared sense of purpose. Each and every member of the team in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire is committed to protecting the environment, and that common goal fosters strong, supportive relationships. There’s mutual respect, openness, and a genuine willingness to help one another within our immediate team and with colleagues across the wider region too.
Making a real difference
With water companies and water quality increasingly in the public spotlight, the work we do has never been more important.
Our team plays a key role in protecting both the environment and communities. From incident response to routine regulatory activity, we work to ensure that water companies meet their obligations and that environmental standards are upheld. That means engaging with companies to understand their challenges, identify issues early, and work towards improvements - as well as analysing data, carrying out on-site compliance inspections, and taking firm enforcement action where necessary.
But there is more to do, and the scale of our work continues to grow. In 2025/26 alone, more than 10,000 on-site compliance inspections were delivered nationally. The findings from these inspections help to provide a more detailed picture of the challenges we face across water company assets, enabling more targeted and effective regulation into the future.
Two years in, I’m still genuinely enjoying the role. No two days are the same, and that variety continues to challenge and motivate me. For me, this career change has been about finding purpose - and in helping to protect and enhance the environment we all rely on, I’ve found exactly that.
seen at 10:42, 1 July in Creating a better place.