4-May-2006 - Premier
Housing (Bradford) Ltd, of Princeville Road, Bradford,
was fined £1,500, ordered to pay full costs
of £919.92 to the Environment Agency, which
brought the case, and pay compensation of £1,376.51
to the City of Bradford Metropolitan District
Council.
Section 34 of the Environmental
Protection Act places a duty of care on anyone
who transfers controlled waste to make sure that
the transfer is only to an authorised person or
to a person for authorised transport purposes,
which means they have to be a registered carrier
of waste.
The court heard that on 11 January
2005 an Environment Agency officer found five
piles of discarded paint pots and printing inks
at Neville Road, Bradford which had been flytipped,
causing an eyesore as well as being polluting.
Some of the paint had spilt and there was a smell
of solvents.
A further load was found thrown
over a wooded bank between industrial units on
Chase Way, Bradford on 3 February 2005. This waste
was subsequently removed by a cleaning company
on behalf of the City of Bradford Metropolitan
District Council at a cost of £1,376.51.
Papers were found amongst the
waste which were traced to ‘Grenard Silkscreen’,
a company that is no longer trading, the former
site of which is managed by Premier Housing (Bradford)
Ltd.
A director of Premier Housing
Ltd paid £1,000 to one of the tenants in
the building to take the waste away, and accepted
that he was ignorant of the waste legislation.
He admitted that in giving the waste to his tenant
he had not arranged for it to be disposed of by
a registered carrier.
The Environment Agency made
enquiries of the tenant, who acknowledged receiving
£1,000 but denied that it was for the disposal
of the waste as said it was in payment for improvement
works that he had carried out.
Environment Agency officer Ralph
Bolton said: “This case serves as a warning to
companies to ensure that they dispose of waste
through registered carriers.”
In mitigation, Premier Housing
fully cooperated with the Environment Agency throughout
the investigations. They made a guilty plea at
the earliest opportunity, and voluntarily paid
for some of the waste to be removed.
Premier Housing said they had
taken the matter very seriously and deeply regret
what happened.
