We were given notice a short time ago (on 1st April actually, but it is no joke) that the EA website has all moved to .gov.uk.
But there's much more to it than that, some parts of it have even been archived. If you're having a hard time finding stuff, this explains why.
Here's the text of the notification email (which was in a .pdf - not so easy to post here)
E and B directorate external comms brief v1-1.pdfWe're moving to GOV.UK What’s happening to our environment and business information? The Environment Agency website is closing in April 2014. We are one of hundreds of
government websites moving to
www.gov.uk over the next few months. GOV.UK will make it
simpler, clearer and faster to find information from government.
You don’t need to do anything or worry about information being lost. Your favourites,
bookmarks and saved links will still take you to the information you’re looking for. You’ll
automatically be redirected to our revised content on GOV.UK or to The National Archives, where
we are saving a copy of our existing website.
Our new web address will be
www.gov.uk/environment-agency. Our home page will follow a
similar look and feel to other agencies and departments, like Defra and DVLA. Our homepage will
include our key contact details, latest news, publications and consultations but you won’t find all our
content via this home page.
Using an internet search engine or the GOV.UK search function will be the most effective
way to find what you need, even if you don’t know which bit of government provides it.
GOV.UK will help government departments and agencies to share content on the same web page.
Or GOV.UK will group pages together in a way that is relevant to customers, like bringing together
everything business’ need to know about waste and environmental impact.
Our email addresses and telephone numbers won’t change. We will continue to use our social
media accounts to share information and respond to enquiries too. We’ll be linking to these
accounts from GOV.UK.
GOV.UK will bring together information from across government however we remain an Executive
Non-departmental Public Body responsible to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra).
Our environment and business information on GOV.UK Our existing online services like our electronic public register and ‘What’s in your
backyard?’ won’t change. You’ll be able to access them using the same web links you currently
use. Or you’ll find links to them on GOV.UK. These services will still be hosted on our servers using
existing software. Data will continue to be updated in the same way. So our move to GOV.UK won’t
affect these key services.
We will also continue to run consultations on the same topics in exactly the same way that
we do now. We will put the same information online for anyone to view and respond to. You’ll find
our consultations alongside consultations from other government departments and agencies on this
GOV.UK page.
Many of our publications will be available on GOV.UK. Publications with over 10 views in the
last 12 months will usually move to GOV.UK.
Content on our existing website will be published on GOV.UK if it’s something that
government has to provide and there is evidence it helps citizens and businesses in some
way. In other words, it meets a ‘user need’. Information on sites of high public interest will be
included on GOV.UK, for example.
Our regulatory guidance will also move to GOV.UK. We are uniquely placed to provide guidance
to clarify legal requirements, explain what customers need to do to comply with the law, outline
processes for grants and permits, and explain how we take decisions on permit applications or
enforce the law.
At the same time as we are moving to GOV.UK our guidance is being streamlined as part of a
Defra-wide project. These changes will ensure customers have a single Government view of what
they need to do to comply with the law and will make it simpler, quicker and clearer for users to
know what they need to do. Find out more at:
http://guidanceanddata.defra.gov.uk/smarter-guidance/.
Our content will look different to how it does now because it will be revised to meet the
standards of GOV.UK. This should make it easier to understand and easier to find. Take a peek at
how some of our draft guidance is shaping up, ready for the move to GOV.UK.
Content that doesn’t meet a user need will be moved to the National Archive. This includes
publications that don’t move to GOV.UK. All National Archive content is clearly labelled to show it
may be out of date.
We will no longer provide good practice information on GOV.UK. With some exceptions,
Government should not generally publish good practice advice as it is rarely uniquely placed to
produce such content compared to other organisations.
We’ll link from our GOV.UK pages to external organisations if it is essential to help our
customers complete a task on GOV.UK. As a user you can tell GOV.UK if you think there should
be a link to another website, using the feedback links at the bottom of most pages or by using this
direct customer feedback form
www.gov.uk/contact/govuk. Not all government organisations will move to GOV.UK. Some organisations were granted
exemptions to retain their existing websites. Our website with the Office of Nuclear Regulation, for
example, has an exemption to remain separate from GOV.UK. You can see the list of agencies and
departments and which are moving to GOV.UK at
www.gov.uk/government/organisations.