Construction firm fined for polluting watercourse in Huddersfield.
Harron Homes Limited has admitted to causing illegal discharges in 2015. A prosecution was made after reports of contaminated run-off entering Grimescar Dyke were investigated by the Environment Agency.
An Environment Agency visit identified that silt contaminated water pumped out of site excavations had entered the watercourse.
Settlement tanks were set up following the regulator’s visit to address silt burdened waters, however subsequent pollution incidents were reported and the system was found to be inadequate, resulting in significant impacts on the water quality up to three kilometres downstream.
Healthy watercourses are expected to have concentrations of suspended solids below 30 milligrams per litre; whereas as a result of the pollution incidents, nearly 35,000 milligrams per litre was recorded.
Penalty
Harron Homes Limited was fined for one charge of causing illegal discharges. The fine applied was £120,000, plus £8,706 in legal costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
Farmer fined for burning controlled waste
A farmer in Cleveland who illegally stored and set fire to controlled waste on his premises has been fined. An investigation by the Environment Agency found that the farmer had unlawfully accepted controlled waste onto his farm, putting the health of the local community and environment in danger.
A blaze at the farm on December 2016 was observed by a helicopter. Footage taken by the helicopter identified that the unattended fire extended over an area of 50 square metres and material burnt included uPVC doors and window frames, wheelie bins, a fridge, televisions, carpets and mattresses. The fire was within 200m of a housing estate, a prison and a busy road.
The farmer was interviewed under caution, at which point he provided waste transfer notes showing that some of the waste had been removed at his expense.
Penalty
The farmer, Charles Roderick Pickering, was charged with two waste offences and ordered to pay a fine of £3,000 plus £1,729.44 in legal costs and a £170 victim surcharge.
Digestate discharge leads to in significant fish mortality.
A couple have been charged after they were found guilty of allowing digestate fertiliser to enter a brook, ultimately affecting the River Leadon.
On July 2016 an employee was instructed to transfer digestate fertiliser to one of the orchards at Rose Hill Farm in Dymock. The employee then activated the irrigation system to remove digestate from a lagoon.
The employee had failed to physically inspect the pipework. Therefore a partly open valve linked to a standpipe discharged the fertiliser to a field, where it flowed across the field and into the Preston Brook.
The discharge pump operates at 100 tonnes an hour, leading to significant losses to the watercourse. An Environment Agency investigation identified that more than 15,200 fish had been killed as a result of the pollution incident.
After liaising with the Environment Agency, the farmers agreed to dredge the brook to remove contaminated material. This was completed in 12 August 2016.
Subsequent surveys found that fish populations remain significantly affected. The Leadon is an important habitat for eels and a significant number of adult eels were lost due to the incident.
Penalty
The couple were each fined £5,500 and ordered to pay £25,796 in costs with a victim surcharge of £170. The fines reflect the absence of a conviction history for either defendant and action taken to cooperate with the Environment Agency.
|
