Fourth man sentenced for Skegness ‘illegal waste site’

The regulator said yesterday (13 June) that Michael Todd was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 100 hours of unpaid work. He pleaded guilty to two counts of permitting the deposit of waste not in accordance with a permit.  

He was also disqualified from acting a company director for five years. This comes after both his sons, Jamie and Thomas Todd, were sentenced to jail earlier in the month (see letsrecycle.com story) and a third man was fined for the incidents. 

All were sentenced on the same day, but the Agency announced this conviction afterwards. 

‘Serious’ 

Yvonne Daly, an environment manager at the Environment Agency, said: “Waste crime is serious because it causes widespread and significant harm: to people, places, the economy, to law and order, and to the environment. 

“Any breaches of environmental permits and illegal waste activity are taken very seriously. We will take the necessary action to disrupt criminal activity and prosecute those responsible.

“We support businesses trying to do the right thing and genuinely comply, but we will issue enforcement notices, and use our regulatory powers when appropriate. 

“The defendants were told to remove waste and ensure safety on the site on numerous occasions but failed to do so.” 

Site 

Between June 2015 and April 2017, the four men managed businesses operating from the former Bowman’s site, in Lincolnshire, near the A52, the Agency said. 

It added that the site had no fire prevention plan in place and inspections found that waste was being stacked too closely together. They also had a mice and fly problem “which posed serious health risks”. As result the site had their permit revoked between December 2015 and February 2016 and again in July 2016. 

In July 2016, the Environmental Agency was assured by Bowman that his land would no longer be used to store waste and instead be used for redevelopment. However, despite this the Environment Agency “found that was waste was being brought onto the site even after the sites environmental permit was fully revoked in March 2017”.  

Amongst the evidence they found a diary belonging to Michael Todd detailing a day when waste couldn’t be brought onto the site due to Environmental Agency officers visits. They concluded from this diary that Todd knew that waste was being brought onto the site.