Man ordered to pay for clean-up costs not covered by insurance

According to a statement from the Environment Agency on Friday (15 September) Grant Brown, 35, from Newcastle, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court for sentencing the previous day.

He previously pleaded guilty to allowing his company to cause waste to be dumped on farmland in Stocksfield, failing to comply with duty of care legislation and failing to produce waste transfer notes.

The court imposed a fine of £1,125 on Brown, alongside a compensation order of £7,071.20 to reimburse the landowner for the costs incurred in the clean-up – costs not covered by their insurance policy.

The overall cost of the clean-up operation was £32,000.

Brown will also shoulder expenses amounting to £3,101 and a victim surcharge of £113.

Additionally, he has been disqualified from holding any company directorship for a period of three years.

Land

Gary Wallace, area environment manager for the Environment Agency in the Northeast, said: “Waste criminals target property and land to dump waste they’ve illegally collected and disappear, leaving a huge clean-up bill for landowners, and dumped waste causes contamination and is a major fire risk.

“In this case we were able to trace the waste back to Brown’s company and after an Environment Agency investigation he’s been put before the courts for his offending.”

Investigation

The EA said in its statement that its investigations into the dumping of waste on farmland in Stockfield led to the identification of Grant Brown as the responsible party.

Brown, trading as GB Waste Management and operating out of Bells Close Industrial Estate in Lemington, claimed to collect and dispose of waste.

The investigation began on 1 September 2021, when an Environment Agency officer visited the Bells Close site in response to a report of an illegal waste site. It was found that Brown’s company did not possess the necessary environmental permit required to minimise environmental impact. The site was found to contain numerous skips filled with various waste materials, including bricks, tiles, plasterboard, wood, and soil.

Despite Brown’s claims to have dissolved the company and sold all skips and trucks during a follow-up visit with Newcastle City Council in November, evidence emerged that the company remained active, the Agency said.

On November 25, 2021, 20 tonnes of waste were illegally dumped on farmland in Stocksfield overnight. Personal identifiable items were discovered amidst the construction and domestic waste, ultimately traced back to Brown’s company. To compound matters, during the clean-up of the dumped waste, asbestos contamination was uncovered on-site. This asbestos was subsequently linked to the clearance of a property in Newcastle city centre.