Frank Spencer, of Plantation Road, was fined 39,330 by Accrington magistrates, and ordered to pay costs of 3,180.25 to the Environment Agency.
Mr Spencer bought a site on the former Meadow Top Colliery, in Altham Lane, Huncoat, near Accrington, in September 1999 and used it for waste operations despite not having a Waste Management Licence or planning permission. Between September 1999 and March 2000, Mr Spencer illegally tipped and burnt about 7,400 tonnes of waste on the site.
Finola Eyers, prosecuting for the Agency, told the court that both the Agency and Lancashire County Council had received complaints from residents about Mr Spencer's activities at the site. She also said that Mr Spencer had failed to supply information to the Environment Agency.
The court was also told that Agency staff visited the site six times between December 1999 and March 2000 and that a number of warning letters were also sent. Mrs Eyers said that Spencer continued his unlicensed waste operation at the site despite knowing that he needed a licence and increased his activities during the Agency’s investigation.
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