A man has been prosecuted after he illegally stored waste at a site in Tyne and Wear.

John James Armstrong, 52, of Park Lane, Winlaton Mill, pleaded guilty to one offence of operating a waste site without a permit at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Friday, 07 April.

He was fined £1,000, ordered to pay over £7,069 in compensation to the landowner to cover the cost of clearing the site, as well as over £1,591 in court costs.

The court heard Mr Armstrong was Director of Canterhall Builders Limited, a construction company which dissolved on 23 May 2016.

In April last year, two Environment Agency (EA) officers attended a site at Unit 1 Felling Business Centre, Green Lane. The officials saw the site was covered in construction waste, including bricks, broken concrete, wood, plaster board, insulations, pallets, old kitchen units, benches and electrical waste. There was also a skip full of building waste.

-- Advertisement --

Enquiries revealed that Canterhall Builders were tenants at the site, but had abandoned it earlier in the month.

A letter requesting removal of the waste was given to the landowner on 16 May. Seven days later, EA officers traced Mr Armstrong to a site in Swalwell, where he was given a letter inviting him to be interviewed.

Two days later the site was cleared by the landowners, at a total cost to them of more than £7,000.

The court was told the defendant has no previous convictions and was co-operative during the investigation.

During an interview, he said that if it was not cost effective to hire a skip to remove waste from carrying out construction work, then he would instead transport the waste back to the unit. When there was enough waste at the unit he would then order a skip to have it removed.

He said in January 2016 more and more waste was deposited at the unit and due to financial problems he could not afford skips to get the waste removed. He said he left the unit on 10 April and had made no attempts to clear the waste.

He added he was unaware of the need for an environmental permit or registered exemptions.

The EA's Paul Whitehill said: "The defendent flouted the law for financial gain – he cut costs by not hiring skips at the sites where work was taking place to ensure disposal of the waste.

"He also avoided the cost of an environmental permit and annual subsistence fees. Illegal waste activities that avoid regulatory controls don't have the appropriate infrastructure to protect the environment, and can have a detrimental impact on local communities."

(LM/MH)