A Coalville construction
company last Friday (13 February) pleaded
guilty at Coalville Magistrates’ Court to
two charges relating to the illegal disposal
of waste.
Central Construction
Services Ltd was fined 500 GBP and ordered
to pay costs of 3,497.79 GBP, along with
a victim surcharge of 15 GBP. The charges
were brought by the Environment Agency under
the Environmental Protection Act 11000.
For the Environment
Agency, Counsel Richard Dewsbury told the
court that on 5 October 2007 officers from
the Environment Agency and Leicestershire
County Council Planning Department visited
the site of 65 St Georges Hill, Swannington,
Leicestershire, to carry out an inspection,
following a complaint from the public. Officers
witnessed on site between 400 and 500 tonnes
of soil, clay, brick and concrete rubble.
Further amounts of controlled waste were
seen at two other locations.
Mr Damian Spence, an
engineer on site, when interviewed under
caution on 15 December 2007 confirmed that
he had received control waste from commercial
business sources without the necessary authorisation
and legal documentation. He also confirmed
that Central Construction Services brought
the waste to the site.
On 20 February 2008
Mr David Barham, Managing Director of Central
Construction Services, was interviewed.
He confirmed that they had not run the necessary
checks to ensure that the St Georges Hill
site was authorised to accept that type
of waste.
Speaking after the case
Mervyn Tongue, an Environment Agency officer
involved in the investigation said: “We
issue Waste Management Licences that authorise
the keeping, treatment, or disposal of controlled
waste. They ensure that waste management
facilities do not pollute the environment,
cause harm to human health or serious detriment
to local amenities.“
In mitigation, the court
heard that the company put in an early guilty
plea and co-operated fully with the investigation.
+ More
Environment Agency calls
for views on Fishlake habitat creation
Plans have been proposed
to create a habitat project for a freshwater
wetland area next to the River Don. Residents
are being invited to give their views.
Fishlake residents are
being invited to an event this month to
give their views on a proposed habitat creation
project to create a valuable freshwater
wetland area next to the River Don.
A project is being planned
to turn land in front of the flood defences
into wetland, to encourage species such
as otter, water voles and fish to this part
of the river and improve access and recreation
for local residents.
Environment Agency staff
will be at Fishlake Village Hall on Wednesday,
25 February, from 1pm until 8pm to give
more details about the proposals and answer
any questions. There will be plans of the
scheme for residents to see.
The area for the project
lies between Jubilee Bridge to the west
and Stainforth Bridge to the east, on the
area of land between the flood embankments
and the river, covering 80 hectares.
Environment Agency project
manager Anthony Myatt said: “We have been
considering habitat improvements at Fishlake
for a while, and now that the flood defence
work at Stainforth is underway, this has
given us the ideal opportunity to improve
this habitat, while we are on site.”
Fishlake is one of a
chain of washlands that is important for
reducing the risk of flooding to people
in the surrounding settlements. This land
is owned by the Environment Agency, and
is low–lying floodplain, where water spills
onto the land from the River Don when there
is a high tide. The land consists of grazing
areas, ditches, swamps and ponds and is
currently let to an agricultural tenant.
The small banks at the
edge of the river, called cradge banks,
were historically used to prevent water
from entering the site to keep it dry for
agricultural use. By removing some small
sections of these banks the tides will be
able to run onto the site approximately
three times a month. The work will not affect
the existing flood bank which protects the
village.
Anthony continues: “We
plan to do a pilot of this scheme this March
on a smaller area of land, which we hope
to work on with minimum disruption to the
local community. It’s also important for
us to get people’s views so we can shape
the scheme to include features they want.”
The scheme could include
fishing platforms, information boards, litter
bins, seating and other features.
Anyone unable
to attend the event can find out more about
the project by emailing fishlake.info@environment-agency.gov.uk
