Holiday company fined for illegally burning waste

A Lincolnshire holiday park company has been ordered to pay over £8,500 after illegally burning waste on one of their sites.

Seaside Leisure Parks, which operates five parks across the county, was convicted for burning a waste pile consisting of mattresses, sofas, and plastic chairs among other things on 4 July 2017.

The Environment Agency (EA), which brought this case against Seaside Leisure, also found evidence of previous waste fires on site. When EA staff attended the fire in July 2017, they observed acrid smoke from the fire blowing across the caravan site – with the nearest caravan being only 25 meters away.

The Fire and Rescue Service had to attend to put out the fire. Following this incident, the company did not take the appropriate action to remove the waste for another month, instead leaving the waste and fire residues on site. By not paying for legal disposure of the waste, Seaside Leisure Parks  avoided costs of around £2,000.

The company had previously been warned for the same type of offending in two letters from the EA in 2010. At interview, the company admitted that the waste costs formed a considerable part of their running costs.

Seaside Leisure Parks  was convicted at Lincoln magistrates’ Court, and ordered to pay a £5,000 fine as well as £3,496.50 in costs and a victim surcharge of £170.

EA Enforcement team leader Mark Rumble said: “Businesses have a legal duty to dispose of their waste correctly. This duty is in place to protect communities and the environment from pollution.

“By burning waste illegally on site, Seaside Leisure Parks Ltd put people and wildlife at risk in the interest of financial gain. We hope this verdict demonstrates to other businesses the importance of complying with environmental laws. We will take action against those who do not comply.”