Farming company ordered to pay fines for water pollution
Velcourt, an international farming company, has been fined after it was found to have polluted watercourses in Somerset.
On 1 August 2018, the Environment Agency received reports of dead fish in the Hardington Brook and Buckland Brook, which are tributaries of the River Frome. Environment Agency officers attending confirmed the dead fish, including brown trout and bullhead. Officers then traced the discoloured water to a side stream flowing from the direction of Manor Farm, where they found a non-permitted discharge from the farm’s surface water drainage system.
Discharges from the farm were heavily discoloured and samples confirmed this effluent would prove fatal to fish because of its concentration of ammonia and very high biological oxygen demand. These discharges limited the oxygen supply to the fish in Hardington Brook.
Manor Farm is owned by the Radstock Cooperative Society but is operated on their behalf by Velcourt.
The farm manager stopped the discharge and emptied the ditch. However, a follow up inspection by an Environment Officer on 14 September 2018 found polluting matter in the ditch.
The later inspection concluded the farm’s dirty drainage system still posed a ‘high potential pollution risk’ due to insufficient storage capacity and appropriate engineering. Farm run-off was still able to enter the surface water ditch and subsequently the watercourse.
The Environment Agency concluded the farm infrastructure was not adequately constructed in accordance with the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (England) Regulations 2010. Clean and dirty water systems were not adequately separated, and the slurry storage and dirty water drainage systems had not kept pace with the expansion of activities at Manor Farm.
Penalty
Velcourt was ordered pay £34,000. The company was also ordered to pay Environment Agency costs of £14,000, a total fine of £20,000 and a victim surcharge of £170.
In 2020 the Environment Agency accepted an Enforcement Undertaking (EU) from Radstock Cooperative Society in relation to their responsibilities in this case. The Society made a payment of £10,000 to the environmental charity Westcountry River Trust.
Main jailed for illegal waste activities
A Norfolk landowner has been imprisoned for storing and burning waste illegally at a site in Norfolk between 29 July 2019 and 17 December 2019.
Environment Agency officers attended the site on seven occasions and observed the charred remains of general rubbish, some of it shredded. This included plastics and metals, as well as hazardous items such as a vehicle engine and a television. These had been burned in a specially constructed ‘bund’ or pit. An present excavator suggested a large amount of waste had been stored and burned.
The man was served a notice by the Environment Agency in September 2019, ordering him to clear the site. However, subsequent visits showed he was continuing to bring waste onto the property and burn it. He had taken no action to clear the site.
The court heard that the burning of waste would have produced fumes that would be harmful to human health and adversely affect the environment. A number of residential buildings and businesses lay some 200 metres away.
The man evaded repeated attempts by Environment Agency officers to discuss the matter. A warrant for Environment Agency officers to enter the site was issued by the Police in December 2019.
Breaches
The man pleaded guilty to storing and disposing of waste without a permit, contrary to Regulation 12(1)(a), Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016.
Penalty
The man was sentenced to eight months in prison and was ordered to pay a £140 victim surcharge. The man was also ordered to pay £10 for breaching a suspended sentence order.
The man was also served a court order requiring him to remove all waste from the site by 30 June 2023. He also needs to provide the Environment Agency with all paperwork by 7 July 2023.
Men fined for illegal waste injection activities
Two men have been sentenced in connection to injecting raw sewage, septic tank contents and other wastes into agricultural land in Cornwall.
The director of Carnon Valley Transport collected raw sewage, septic tank contents and other controlled wastes from holiday and caravan parks, hotels, a farm, abattoir and a car dealership. Liquid waste was then placed into storage tankers belonging to a second man. Each load included 4,500 litres of the waste.
The director admitted failing to give waste transfer notes to customers. Waste transfer notes were produced for one client, an upmarket car retailer. The note claimed car wash effluent was being taken to South West Water for disposal. In reality, it was given to the tanker owner for injection into the ground.
The owner of the tankers was paid a quarter of the going rate for legitimate disposal. This man disposed of the waste mixture into the ground at agricultural locations he rented in in West Cornwall.
The owner of the tankers did not have proper measures in place to check that only septic tank waste was going into his tanks, nor did he have the environmental permits needed to screen and test the waste prior to storage for spreading.
Breaches
The director pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 12(1)(a), Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016.
The director also pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with the duty of care contrary to Section 34(1) and Section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by:
- Section 34(1) makes it the duty of persons who import, produce, carry, keep, treat or disposed of controlled waste, or as a dealer or broker have control of such waste, to take all measures to ensure the duty of care is met.
- Section 34(6) makes it an offence to fail to comply with any duty under Section 34(1).
The director also pleaded guilty to one count of fraud contrary to Section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006 by dishonestly intending to make a gain for himself or to cause a loss to another by making false representations to a car retailer, namely providing them with waste transfer notes which stated the waste collected was destined for South West Water treatment works.
Carnon Valley Transport pleaded guilty to the breaches of Regulation 12(1)(a), Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016 and Section 34(1) and Section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The owner of the tankers and waste injection operator also pleaded guilty to breaches of Regulation 12(1)(a), Regulation 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016 and Section 34(1) and Section 34(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 with respect to the waste operations carried out illegally.
Four counts of treating, keeping or disposing of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will lie on file.
Penalties
The director was ordered to pay £80,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act within 3 months or face imprisonment, given a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, alongside fines for him and his firm totalling £3,000 plus £3,450 in costs
The owner of the tankers and waste injection operator was ordered to pay £136,674.50 under the Proceeds of Crime Act within 3 months or face imprisonment, fined £8,000 plus £10,000 in costs.
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