09/05/2005 - A holiday
park company was today ordered to pay £9,938
in fines and costs for discharging poorly
treated sewage effluent from a Cornwall-based
country club. The case was brought today by
the Environment Agency.
Magistrates heard that Environment Agency
officers had been taking samples of sewage
effluent from the Lakeview Country Club at
Lanivet since 2002. The Club has its own sewage
treatment plant with a consent to discharge
held by Vernon Knight Associates trading as
Club Domaine Holidays.
Between July 2, 2002 and September 5, 2003,
eight of the ten samples failed. At the end
of September 2003 the Agency wrote to Lakeview
pointing out the failures and asking how they
were going to improve sewage treatment on
the site.
A response received from consultants appointed
by club said the replacement of the sewage
treatment plant had been agreed. Another letter
in January 2004 said the new plant should
be working by the end of May 2004.
Further samples in between February and June
2004 all failed to comply with the consent.
In a follow-up letter the consultants said
the new works would be running by the end
of August 2004. They added that, in the meantime,
they had advised their client to de-sludge
the plant more frequently.
By June 18, 2004 the Environment Agency considered
the situation sufficiently serious to issue
Club Domaine Holidays with an enforcement
notice. The Agency received no response to
this notice.
A further failed sample prompted Agency officers
to visit Lakeview Country Club on August 10
and serve a notice on the site managers specifying
immediate measures to be taken to improve
the situation. The officers found the new
sewage treatment system had not yet been installed.
A sample was obtained which grossly failed
the consent. It was black in colour and smelt
strongly of sewage. Levels of suspended solids
were nearly four times (116 mg) the permitted
limit of 30 milligrams per litre. The Biological
Oxygen Demand (BOD) was almost eight times
above the legal limit of 20 milligrams per
litre and ammoniacal nitrogen was over five
times (57 mg) the permitted level of 10 milligrams
per litre.
Vernon Knight Associates, trading as Club
Domain Holidays, Old Coach Road, Lanivet,
Bodmin, Cornwall were fined £9,000 and
ordered to pay £938 costs by Liskeard
magistrates after pleading guilty to seven
offences under the Water Resources Act 1991,
of breaking a consent to discharge on dates
throughout 2004.
"The history of non compliance at this
site dates back over two years. By failing
to respond with sufficient urgency the company
allowed the failing discharge to continue
without any steps being taken to reduce its
impact, whilst waiting for the new system
to be installed," said Mark Pilcher for
the Environment Agency.
"We are pleased that a new sewage treatment
system has at last now been installed at the
site and the consent standards are being met."
