Telford man ordered to pay over £6,000 for operating an illegal waste site

William Wellings was caught with 30 skips of various sizes stored on his site at Hill Top Farm in Ketley, Telford, when Environment Agency officers visited following complaints about waste and smell in March last year.

Telford Magistrates Court heard a year earlier he had been visited by agency officials and advised he would need to obtain an environmental permit to operate a waste transfer station on site.

Despite following up with written letters, no permit was in place or had been applied for by the time of the second visit, the court was told.

The site was also not engineered to the standards required to prevent any harm occurring to the environment.

Wellings yesterday admitted one charge of operating a plant without an environmental permit and was fined £3,200, ordered to pay £2,909 costs and also told to fork out a £120 victim surcharge.

The charge was brought by the Environment Agency contrary to Regulation 12 and 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.

An Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said: "Waste crime is a serious offence with tough penalties as it can damage the environment, blight local communities and undermine those who operate legally. We offered advice to Mr Wellings to help him run his business legitimately while protecting the environment but he failed to take necessary action. This case demonstrates we will not hesitate to prosecute when circumstances warrant it."

In mitigation the court was told that it was a one-off event that was not commercially motivated. The defendant had been under considerable pressure and was remorseful of his actions. He cooperated with the Environment Agency and there was little environmental harm, the court heard.