Companies dumped thousands of tonnes of waste in countryside as water board 'turned blind eye'
"Completely off the scale" is how the Environment Agency describes two years of mismanagement of waste from housing developments across Suffolk. A judge today called it negligent.
Some five organisations have been fined £70,666 for the huge amount of unpermitted waste stockpiled at two farms between 2016 and 2018.
When the Environment Agency heard about thousands of lorries moving waste along narrow roads in the village of Iken, they soon established more than 121,000 tonnes had been dumped at the two locations, Hill Farm and The Anchorage.
Haulage and waste management firm Nicholls Ltd took the waste to Iken on behalf of East Suffolk Water Management Board, but without the permission from the Environment Agency.
Judge Martyn Levett fined Nicholls, of Kesgrave, £26,666 at Ipswich crown court today.
In March, he ordered them to pay £425,000 in a proceeds of crime order, which is designed to ensure offenders don't profit financially from wrongdoing.
Nicholls was given the waste by three firms, who admitted they failed to check where it was going.
Howard Construction (Anglia) Ltd, of near Woodbridge, was fined £18,000. Barconn Ltd, of Norwich, was given a £14,000 penalty. Ipswich-based Landex Limited was fined £8,000.
A judge called the actions of four companies 'negligent,' while a water management board 'turned a blind eye'
Judge Levett said East Suffolk Water Management Board "turned a blind eye" to what was happening. They asked for the waste to be held at the farms, but failed to obtain the appropriate permit from the Environment Agency. They were fined £4,000.
Lesley Robertson, the enforcement team leader for the Environment Agency who led the investigation, said:
We won't hesitate to prosecute those responsible for illegal waste activities. Anyone who transports or disposes of waste has a duty of care to ensure it is handled correctly and taken to a legitimate permitted facility.
The £425,000 proceeds of crime order for Nicholls and fines against all five organisations show how serious judge Levett considered this to be.
East Suffolk Water Management Board and Nicholls operated at a distinct commercial advantage. Waste was imported on a huge scale over a long period without the benefit of appropriate permits meant to protect the public and the environment.
The companies seemed to look to each other to get the right permission for the work, but none of it was legal
It was crystal clear from the Environment Agency's investigation that all five should have known the rules on the management of waste. They were experienced operators in the construction and waste industries.
Counsel for the Environment Agency Richard Beynon earlier told the court the five organisations had the people and experience to know how to operate legally, but chose not to.
It was evident from interviews and statements with senior staff that assumptions were made about what permissions was obtained by others in the chain from housing developments to the farms where the waste was left.
Investigators found both the vast quantity of waste and its composition meant the two locations it had been taken to were illegal. The waste contained wood, plastic, concrete and brick that was wrongly described as soil.
The company thundering the waste through the Suffolk countryside had already been ordered to return £425,000 gained from the illegal work
The court was earlier told the water management board did nothing to stop the waste being brought in or make any attempt to secure the appropriate Environment Agency permission.
More than half the illegal waste, around 62,000 tonnes, was supplied by Howard Construction. Barconn and Landex provided around a third again.
East Suffolk Water Management Board sought to legitimise the waste at Iken by registering two waste exemptions. However, the sheer volume of what was taken there by Nicholls meant the exemptions were quickly breached and illegal.
All five organisations pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Environment Agency.
East Suffolk Water Management Board, based in Horsley's Fields, King's Lynn, Norfolk, operated a waste management facility on land at Iken without an environmental permit, in breach of regulation 12(1)(a) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and 2016.
Nicholls Ltd, of Sinks Pit, Main Road, Kesgrave, left the waste at the same locations without a permit, contrary to section 33(1)(a) and (6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Howard Construction (Anglia) Ltd, of Boot Street, Great Bealings, near Woodbridge; Barconn Ltd, of Meridian Way, Norwich; and Landex Ltd, of Holywells Road, in Ipswich, were all charged with failing to comply with the duty of care around on the transfer of waste, under section 34(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The defendants were ordered to pay the Environment Agency's costs of £102,250. Nicholls will pay £62,000; East Suffolk Water Management Board £15,500; Howard Construction £7,750; and Barconn and Landex £7,500 each.
They will also have to pay victim surcharges totalling £850, or £170 each.
