Farmer told to pay nearly £40,000 for polluting quarry lagoon with dairy slurry
A farmer has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 after allowing dairy slurry to pollute a quarry lagoon.
Philip McDowell, aged 38 and of Willoughbridge Lodge Farm in Willoughbridge near Market Drayton, was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday (November 5) in a case brought forward by the Environment Agency.
The Staffordshire dairy farmer admitted allowing a discharge of dairy slurry into Lordsley Wood Quarry without an environmental permit at an earlier hearing on July 14.
McDowell was fined £5,300, ordered to pay compensation of £18,236.40 to the quarry owners, £14,430.34 in costs to the Environment Agency, and a victim surcharge of £2,000.
Compensation was ordered to cover costs incurred by the quarry owners since the incident. Heidelberg Materials UK Limited said it had not given permission for the discharge.
Lordsley Wood Quarry lies within a regionally significant aquifer and holds a water abstraction permit.
The court heard that on January 8, 2023, a witness reported seeing McDowell pumping slurry into the quarry and contacted the Environment Agency.
Officers who attended found a lagoon containing thick and dirty floating foam which smelled of cattle slurry. They found that the slurry had spread across a significant area of the lagoon.
McDowell attended a voluntary interview under caution and pleaded guilty on July 14.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We take pollution incidents very seriously and are committed to protecting our precious water resources.
"The successful prosecution of this farmer sends a clear message that we will not tolerate practices that harm the environment.
"Slurry pollution can have devastating effects on local ecosystems, and we urge all farmers/landowners to comply with environmental regulations.
"If people see environmental incidents, they should call our 24/7 hotline on 0800 807060."
