A haulage firm, three building companies and a water board have been fined after more than 120,000 tonnes of waste material including plastics was stockpiled at two farms in East Anglia.
A judge handed out £70,666 of penalties at Ipswich Crown Court this month, and ordered the organisations to cover in excess of £100,000 in Environment Agency costs.
The Environment Agency described the level of waste involved as “completely off the scale”.
It said a “huge amount” of brick, concrete and other material was stockpiled at Hill Farm and the Anchorage between 2016 and 2018, causing “thousands” of lorry movements.
Haulier Nicholls Ltd, of Sinks Pit Main Road in Kesgrave, was fined £26,666 and told to pay £62,000 in costs. The company was previously hit with a £425,000 proceeds of crime order.
Howard Construction (Anglia) Ltd, of Boot Street, Great Bealings, was fined £18,000 and told to pay £7,750 of costs.
Barconn Ltd, of Meridian Way in Norwich, was given a £14,000 penalty with £7,500 costs, and Landex Ltd, registered at Holywells Road in Ipswich, was fined £8,000 and landed with a bill for £7,500 in costs.
East Suffolk Water Management Board (ESWMB) was fined £4,000 and ordered to cover £15,500 of costs.
The watchdog said Nicholls took the waste to the village of Iken on behalf of ESWMB.
The three building firms supplying the waste failed to check where it was going, it added, and while the Board registered waste exemptions these were “quickly breached”.
All five parties pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Agency. They have all been contacted for comment.
Guy Nicholls, chief executive at Nicholls Ltd, said: “At no stage did Nicholls Ltd or its directors intend to break the law. The work was known about and widely supported by the local community.
“Throughout this process, Nicholls Ltd and its directors have fully cooperated with the investigation. We have also reviewed and updated our compliance processes, including commissioning several independent audits by recognised environmental experts. During the investigation we also commissioned a forensic accountant who showed that that we did not make profit on this project, the main purpose of which was community benefit.”
Read his full statement here.
ESWMB chief executive Phil Camamile said: “It is clear that we made mistakes when responding to the Environment Agency’s request for help in the aftermath of a national flooding emergency and in the confusion that followed, and we did not secure the correct waste licence from the Environment Agency before arranging with the Environment Agency and others to stockpile clay for use in reinstating the Environment Agency’s Estuary River Wall Defences that protect the Board’s district.
“For that we are sorry, and we have learnt from our mistakes. Procedures that were in place at the time have now been changed to ensure this could not be repeated.”
Read the full statement here.
