BR Skip Hire, which operated a waste transfer station at Rumstead Lane in Stockbury, can no longer manage waste from the site after the regulator revoked its permit.
The decision was upheld after the company failed to overturn it on appeal.
The Environment Agency said it had worked with the site’s operator, Matthew Butler, for more than a year to bring the facility into compliance with environmental law, but concerns continued to worsen despite repeated inspections and correspondence throughout 2024 and 2025.
According to the regulator, Butler had delegated the day-to-day operation of the waste transfer station to a second company, All Skips, but failed to retain oversight of how the site was managed.
The site received skips filled by customers before the waste was returned for sorting and storage.
However, the Environment Agency said excessive volumes of waste were being stored at the facility, including hazardous waste electricals such as fridges and televisions, creating risks of pollution and fire.
Inspectors also identified inadequate drainage, poor segregation of hazardous waste, a lack of management oversight and insufficient fire prevention measures.
The regulator said the site did not have an adequate plan in place in the event of a fire.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service also raised concerns over the lack of an available water supply to tackle a blaze, as well as the size of waste piles, which it said would have hindered firefighting efforts.
Matt Higginson, Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Kent, said: “The Environment Agency tries to work with operators to bring them into compliance, but some are just unwilling to accept what they need to do to achieve that.
“Our investigation into BR Skip Hire and All Skips highlighted fundamental errors around proper storage of waste and a lack of fire prevention that needed addressing.
“Revoking the site’s environmental permit was necessary when these and other problems weren’t managed.”
The Environment Agency said the revocation followed a long history of non-compliance at the site, which had deteriorated in recent years despite repeated regulatory intervention.
The permit revocation means BR Skip Hire and All Skips are no longer authorised to accept or manage waste at the Stockbury facility.
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