Skip hire company permit holder prosecuted for breach of environmental permit & breach of enforcement notices

Richard Dawson, instructed by Brea Carney-Jones at Stephensons Solicitors, defended the permit holder of a skip hire company, who was being prosecuted by the Environment Agency in respect of breaches of his waste management permit and for breaches of enforcement notices which had previously been issued.

Environment Agency officers had attended at the site on a number of occasions over the course of a lengthy investigation. On each occasion, waste was seen in excess of the permitted volume for the site and stored at heights greater than permitted. Waste was observed to be stored inappropriately, on permeable surfaces without sealed drainage systems; and mixed waste was seen to be spilling out of the allocated building.

The various breaches created localised adverse effects on air and water quality and amenity value and minor adverse effects on both human and animal health and quality of life.

Throughout the course of investigation, the EA provided advice and guidance to the permit holder, in order to try to ensure that the company might become compliant with its permit. However, the persistent nature of the breaches and the consistent failure to improve operations at the site, pursuant to the statutory enforcement notices, requiring that action be taken to improve the site, ultimately resulted in prosecution of the permit holder.

The waste permit holder pleaded guilty to offences under the Environmental Permitting (England & Wales) Regulations 2016. He was fined and ordered to pay the substantial costs incurred by the EA, both of their investigation and the subsequent prosecution.

Richard Dawson is an expert trial lawyer, specialising in environmental law and defending corporate and individual defendants facing environmental crime and regulatory investigation and prosecution.

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