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Yorkshire man fined over £5k for waste crime

The Environment Agency (EA) has given a man in North Yorkshire two months to clear waste from an illegal site.  

The man – from Bedale – appeared in York Magistrates’ Court on Friday last week (24 January 2025). He pleaded guilty to the charges of operating a waste site without an environmental permit and failing to comply with a notice to clear waste from the site. 

He has now been ordered to clear the site by 21 March 2025.  

Additionally, he was sentenced to a 12-month community order of 110 hours of unpaid work, ordered to cover the EA’s costs of £5,422.75 and pay a victim surcharge of £114.  

If he fails to clear and properly dispose of the waste by the given date, he could be subject to further action. 

Ian Foster, EA area environment manager, commented: “Environmental permits are in place to protect the public and environment and the way the waste was stored at this site posed a risk of contamination and fire.  

“King was given a number of opportunities to clear the site of waste but failed to comply with the instructions from our officers.   

“Illegal activity such as this undermines legitimate businesses that work hard to operate within the regulations, as well as putting the environment at risk and impacting on the local community.” 

Timeline of the court case 

The EA attended the site on 22 June 2023 after receiving reports of an illegal waste operation. 

Officers saw what they described as “a significant amount of waste” including wood, plastics, metal and construction and demolition waste, alongside household waste such as fridges and freezers. The EA said that the mode of storage raised concerns over the risk of fire.

The site is located near a local watercourse which posed a risk of groundwater and surface water. 

The EA wrote to the man to instruct that the waste be cleared by 21 August 2023, which was later extended to 28 February 2024.  

The man failed to comply, citing lack of financial means to clear the waste.  

A final enforcement notice was issued by the EA for 23 August 2024 which also was not complied with.  

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