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On Tuesday 13 August, Nicholas Frank Puddy of Ullenwood, Cheltenham, pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court to three charges of operating a regulated facility without an environmental permit from the Environment Agency.
Mr Puddy was given a 12 month community penalty amounting to 240 hours unpaid work, and ordered to pay 3,000GBP costs and a 60GBP victim surcharge.
The three charges were brought by the Environment Agency under Section 38 of the Environmental Permitting ( England & Wales ) Regulations 2010.
Details of the case
Environment Agency officers were alerted by the local authority that illegal burning of waste was taking place at ‘The Salad Bowl’ (the site), Leckhampton Hill, Ullenwood, Cheltenham. Upon investigation, officers saw evidence of previously burnt material, along with waste in the process of being burnt and materials around the site including wooden furniture, wood, paper, rubble, tiles, toilets and electrical items.
A Notice to remove the waste was served on the 12 September 2012 for removal by 16 October 2012. Mr Puddy was advised of what would be required to undertake any processing or use of these materials on site.
Large quantities of the waste were still on site by the deadline date and an interview under caution was carried out in early November. During the interview, Mr Puddy confirmed that he was in the household clearance business and that the waste had come from his clearance work, but said that the waste only remained on site for a short period, prior to being taken to landfill. He then admitted to burning some waste on site as he could not afford the landfill charges and had been desperate at the time.
By the 12 February 2013, Environment Agency officers noticed that the majority of the waste had been cleared and it did not appear that any further waste was being brought onto the site.
Speaking after the case, an Environment Agency officer in charge of the investigation said: “Illegal waste sites have the potential to cause serious pollution incidents or harm human health, and this prosecution demonstrates that we take waste crime very seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute if necessary, to protect the environment and local communities.”
In mitigation, his solicitor stated that Mr Puddy’s business was struggling at the time of the offence and so he cut corners to save money by storing some items of waste on his own land. He described it as a stupid error. He stated that the vast majority of items were not there for long and that they were kept on Mr Puddy’s own land rather than being fly-tipped.
via Environment Agency – Community order and financial penalty for illegal waste activity.
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