06/03/2006 - The construction
company Barratt Homes has been ordered to
pay fines and costs of £4,129 after
turning a Devon stream brown with mud. The
Environment Agency received a tip-off from
a local resident at Copplestone on 1 April
2005, saying that a caterpillar-tracked
vehicle was creating a sea of mud which
was going into a stream.
An officer went to the site and saw a truck
dumping loose soil on a slope that ran down
to the Creedy Yeo stream. The stream was
brown with soil for the entire length of
the housing development, approximately 40
metres.
As well as loose soil falling into the
water, a section of the site appeared waterlogged
and had slumped into the stream.
The site manager said there had been a
heavy downpour on 29 March which had washed
soil into the stream and stopped work.
The Environment Agency officer asked to
see any documents or method statements which
would cover working close to a watercourse.
The copy that was eventually presented related
only primarily to work after the building
was finished in an attempt to stabilise
the site and reduce the amount of material
falling into the stream.
An ecological appraisal revealed that invertebrates
in the stream had been affected by the amount
of silt in the water.
Barratt Homes Limited, Wingrove House,
Ponteland Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne appeared
before magistrates at Cullompton today and
pleaded guilty to one charge under the Water
Resources Act 1991 - that on or before 1
April 2005 the company permitted soil to
enter a tributary of the Creedy Yeo at Copplestone
in Devon.
The company was fined £2,500 and
ordered to pay £1,629 in costs.
Brian Grant from the Environment Agency
said: ‘Barratts were warned by their sub-contractors,
following their initial risk assessment
of the site, of their concern about the
close proximity of the stream. Despite this
Barratts failed to act and claimed to have
a risk assessment covering working close
to the watercourse when this was not the
case. Whilst steps in the early phase of
the work had been taken to protect the trees
along the bank, no written risk assessment
was produced to protect the stream.
‘This incident was entirely foreseeable.
The Environment Agency’s free 24 hour hotline
for reporting environmental incidents is
0800 80 70 60
Notes to Editors:
Barratts has received a number of cautions
over the past five years concerning work
in the Devon area:
20 November 2000 – Two cautions under the
Water Resources Act 1991.
30 October 2002 – Environmental Protection
Act 11000
10 October 2001 – Water Resources Act
