Man fined for illegal storage, deposit and treatment of waste in Woofferton
A man was yesterday ordered to pay over £16,800 for the illegal storage, deposit and treatment of waste in Woofferton.
Stephen James Weaver was sentenced for one offence relating to the storage, deposit and treatment of mixed waste, at a site on Station Road, Woofferton without an environmental permit.
Mr Weaver was fined £1,320, ordered to pay £10,652 in compensation to the Environment Agency, £4,805.63 in costs, along with a £120 victim surcharge.
The charge was brought by the Environment Agency contrary to Regulations 12 (1) and 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
On 9 September 2014 an officer visited the location and observed large mounds of mixed waste including plastic, construction and demolition waste. Mr Weaver was made aware at this time that an environmental permit was required to continue collecting, storing or treating waste on this site. Mr Weaver was advised of the appropriate permits/exemptions that he required.
On the 20 February 2015 officers visited the site again and noted newly deposited mixed waste and evidence of waste treatment activities.
Environment Agency Officers made another visit on 11 March 2015 and found further evidence of the treatment of waste on site.
On the 26 May 2015 Mr Weaver had still not applied for the appropriate permit for the work which was being carried out on this site. Since the start of these court proceedings in October 2015, Mr Weaver has applied for a waste permit for site.
Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said: “Mr Weaver was fully aware of his obligations to comply with the environmental permitting rules but chose to ignore them. We take waste crime extremely seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute in cases such as this. In passing the magistrates commentated that they felt Mr Weaver had deliberately continued treating waste despite being advised that he required an environmental permit in order to do so lawfully."
In mitigation, the court heard that the defendant made partial admissions during interview.
