Tim Abbott - 25-May-2007
- Two companies have been fined a total
of £18,000 following a spillage of
red diesel into a tributary of the River
Kennet. The Kennet is a Site of Special
Scientific Interest and source of drinking
water abstraction.
Wooldridge Ecotec Ltd of Bagshot, Surrey,
pleaded guilty to polluting the unnamed
tributary at Douai Abbey, Upper Woolhampton,
Berkshire, between 4 and 8 March 2005 in
breach of Section 85 of the Water Resources
Act 1991.
Bewley Homes Plc, of Baughurst, Hampshire,
pleaded guilty to the pollution of the unnamed
tributary, due to its failure to respond
to pollution risks highlighted in two reports
prepared for its redevelopment of the Abbey
site and failure to properly inform Wooldridge,
its contractor, of those risks. This breaches
Section 217 of the Water Resources Act 1991.
Reading Magistrates’ Court fined Wooldridge
Ecotec and Bewley Homes £9,000 each,
finding that they both contributed to the
pollution. They were ordered to pay £2367.90
each in costs to the Environment Agency.
On Thursday 24 May the court heard how
Bewley had bought the Abbey site in 2000
and commissioned two environmental reports
for remediation of the site as part of its
proposal for a housing development. Following
a successful tender, Wooldridge were awarded
the contract to carry out on-site demolition
works including the old school and its annexures.
Incorporated on the site was a system of
interlinked built-in oil storage tanks designed
to store the oil that had heated the old
school. The system held about 10,000 litres
and was approximately half full when Bewley
bought the site.
A local farmer alerted the Environment
Agency on 7 March 2005 after he saw red
diesel in the brook, which flowed through
his farm. A culvert on the farm had prevented
the diesel from flowing further downstream
towards the Kennet.
Officers who attended the site immediately
placed booms on the river to stop the diesel
from spreading and then followed the spill
approximately 1km up stream. They checked
other local and domestic fuel tank sources
and were initially told by Bewley Homes’
site manager that there had not been a diesel
spill on the site.
However, officers traced the source of
the spill via an outfall pipe at the Abbey
to a damaged pair of oil storage tanks near
the old science block. The diesel had leaked
a concrete bund containing two oil tanks
which had been damaged during preparatory
works on Saturday 5 March 2005.
The bund is designed to prevent pollution
in case of a tank failure. But a hole made
to pass wiring through the bund had allowed
the diesel to leak out and from there it
flowed through a rainfall duct into the
stream.
Officers estimated that approximately 500
litres of oil had been lost, though this
amount was challenged by the defendants.
Investigating Officer Steve Clare said:
"It took us over a month to clear up
the diesel from the watercourse because
initially both companies refused to take
responsibility for their actions.
"By failing to agree a comprehensive
clean up plan for the site, and by ignoring
the potential danger of those works, the
companies put the environment at very real
risk of a major incident.
"Fortunately, in this case, the environmental
impacts were negligible, but that does not
negate the need for companies to act responsibly
when dealing with hazardous materials to
ensure they do not pollute the environment."
Wooldridge Ecotec subsequently paid over
£5,500 in clear up costs and Bewley
Homes met the cost of excavation and fuel
removal.
