David Averies and his brother Lee – who succeeded David as director of the Swindon-based firm in October 2014 – both deny charges brought by the Environment Agency over breaches of the Environmental Protection Act.
The alleged offences cover the period November 14 2013 to March 2014, and include charges relating the volume of waste stored at the company’s site at Marshgate, and that it was kept in an unsafe manner.
The two brothers are each facing three charges in respect of the Marshgate site, as well as another three each in respect of another Averies site on Brindsley Close.
The Environment Agency alleges that Lee and David Averies:
- Kept, treated or disposed of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human life.
- Two offences of breaching the conditions of the environmental permit in relation to the volume of waste stored on site and having inadequate security to prevent unauthorised access to the site.
Both defendants were committed on conditional bail yesterday ahead of a preliminary hearing of the case at Swindon Crown Court on August 28 2015.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Yesterday at Swindon Magistrates Court, Lee and David Averies indicated their intention to plead not guilty to the waste offences alleged by the Environment Agency. The Court determined that the trial should be heard at the Crown Court.”
Averies Recycling went into voluntary administration in December 2014 and is now in liquidation following a major fire at the Marshgate site earlier that year in July. The firm has also had its environmental permit revoked.
The fire broke out on the evening of July 21 2014 involving 1,000 tonnes of general and building waste. It continued to burn for around two months and subsequent clean-up costs were estimated at around £500,000.
Separately, Swindon borough council has set up a task group to investigate the circumstances leading to the Averies fire, with the group scheduled to report back on its findings at a later date and, if necessary, make any recommendations for handling future incidents of a similar nature.
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