Contractor slapped with hefty fine after causing ‘gross and chronic’ pollution

Winvic Construction has been ordered to pay over £185,500 after causing “gross and chronic” pollution at the East Midlands Gateway development site near Kegworth.

The Environment Agency successfully prosecuted the company for polluting a local brook whilst working as a contractor on the site in September 2019.

A discharge of contaminated run off caused Hemington Brook to become “highly turbid and discoloured with clay solids” which adversely affect invertebrates.

A member of the public subsequently alerted the Environment Agency.

The source was traced to an outfall near the development site which was Winvic’s responsibility.

Staff told officers that a drain blocker had failed, which allowed the contaminated contents of two ponds to drain and discharge into the brook via a flood attenuation basin. The Environment Agency attended the site again on September 30 2019 – around three days after the pollution began – and found that the discharge had not been stopped.

At Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (1 March) Winvic Construction Limited, of Tenter Road, Moulton Park, Northampton, admitted causing pollution and was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £25,577.79.

The Court accepted that the offence was due in part to unprecedented rainfall in the local area.

Ian Firkins, senior environment manager for the Environment Agency’s East Midlands Area, said: “We welcome this sentence which should act as a deterrent to other companies who breach environmental legislation.

“As a regulator, the Environment Agency will not hesitate to pursue companies that fail to meet its obligations to the environment.

“The conditions of an environmental permit are designed to protect people and the environment.

“Failure to comply with these legal requirements is a serious offence that can damage the environment and harm human health.”

Responding, a Winvic spokesperson told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We acknowledge and regret the discharge of surface water containing Mercia Mudstone held in the East Midlands Gateway (EMG) site’s ponds into Hemington Brook in August 2019. Whilst Industry defined and agreed best practice mitigation measures were in place at the site, a number of factors combined to leave Winvic – in the words of the Court, ‘between a rock and a hard place’.

“Due to the acknowledged heaviest period of rainfall in the area since records began, significant volumes of water built up in the approved siltation ponds on the site. This unforeseen event unfortunately attracted large numbers of migrating birds which presented a very real and potentially fatal risk of a bird-strike at the adjacent East Midlands Airport, conflicting with the requirement from the Environment Agency (EA) to hold and clean water prior to discharge. The decision was therefore taken to discharge water from the ponds in order to avoid the possibility of a more catastrophic event occurring – hence the ‘rock and a hard place’ comment above. However, we accept that in doing so water containing suspended solids of Mercia Mudstone was discharged into Hemington Brook.

“Nonetheless, we have welcomed working with the EA throughout the process to ensure lessons could be learned and applied across the business. Winvic is committed to ‘Doing It Right’ and strives for continuous improvement in all areas. We continue to liaise with the EA on numerous projects to achieve successful outcomes.”