Councillor Donald Stewart, who is leader of North Lincolnshire council, pleaded guilty to two charges of depositing, keeping and treating waste on land without a licence. Scunthorpe magistrates fined Cllr Stewart 20,000 yesterday, and ordered him to pay costs of 1,944.
The case was brought by the Environment Agency after an officer discovered waste materials on Cllr Stewart's farm near Epworth. Waste on the site included plastic, metal, carpet, pipework and glass as well as hazardous materials like asbestos. The illegal dump was partly covered with three metres of soil and vegetation, officers said.
The site had also been used to store “large piles of soil and rubble”, waste potatoes and “burnt and smashed fridge freezers”, the Agency said.
Speaking after the case, Agency officer Richard Hardy said: “Anyone wishing to handle or store waste must have a waste management licence in place. This document sets out features and procedures which must be in place to minimise risk to the environment and human health.
Action
“Anyone operating a waste site without a licence is operating outside the law and the Agency will not hesitate in taking action against them,” Mr Hardy added.
Cllr Stewart's legal representative, Tony Woods, said that his client “accepted his wrong doing and had co-operated with the Agency in its investigation”. Mr Woods said it was an “industrial farm” and that the deposits of waste had been made “without his knowledge”.
A spokesman for North Lincolnshire council told letsrecycle.com the matter was “not an issue for the council, as it is a personal matter for Cllr Stewart”. Asked if he would resign as council leader, Cllr Stewart said: “Certainly not”.
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