Christopher Nash, 35, of Hillgarth in Consett appeared at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court on Monday (July 25), where he pleaded guilty to operating a waste facility without a permit at Eastmoor Road Allotments in Murton.
Mr Nash was also sentenced to eight weeks in prison, to run concurrently, for breaching a suspended prison sentence, which was imposed in September 2015 after he pleaded guilty to the same offence.
Alan Lamb, 32, of Short Grove in Murton also appearing in court, was fined £40, ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £20. He pleaded guilty to obstructing an Environment Agency officer carrying out his duties after it was claimed that he had falsely said that the waste site belonged to him.
Acting on behalf of the Environment Agency, solicitor Simon Crowder told the court that just three months after Mr Nash’s September court hearing, on December 23, Environment Agency officers attended the site and saw a substantial amount of waste – with evidence a fire had taken place.
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It was claimed that on 31 December, Environment Agency officers met both Mr Nash and Mr Lamb on the site, where Mr Lamb said he was responsible for the waste.
Finally the Agency claimed that in February 2016 Mr Lamb informed the EA in an interview he had lied during that meeting, and a month later EA officers attended the site and found the waste had still not been cleared.
However, documents taken from the site showed the waste had been collected by Murton Recycling – the trading name of Christopher Nash.
Mr Nash did not attend an interview with the Environment Agency, the environmental regulator claimed.
‘Disregard’
Dave Edwardson, Enforcement team leader for the Environment Agency in the North East, said: “Just months after his court hearing for operating a waste facility without a permit, this site was full with waste, showing Mr Nash has a blatant disregard for the law.
“On top of that, Mr Lamb tried to take the blame for the waste on site so that Nash would have time to clear it. We won’t tolerate people trying to prevent us from doing our work to protect the environment and community and this should serve as a message that we will take enforcement action.
“Permitting regulations are in place for a reason, and while we’ll continue to work together with legitimate businesses to help them meet their environmental obligations, where there are breaches we will take action.”
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