£50,000 order after environmental breaches

A SHROPSHIRE company and its directors have been fined for the  “unlawful and unacceptable” burying of waste at a Worcestershire quarry.

Steven Broadley and Stephen Butler, and their company Broadley and Parton, pleaded guilty and were sentenced in relation to an unlawful waste operation on land at Cinetic Quarry near Wildmoor. Steven Bragg, who was employed on the site, also pleaded guilty to operating the site beyond the extent of the environmental permit.

Industrial and municipal waste had been found buried in areas of the quarry, making a financial gain although Judge Pearce Higgins QC accepted this benefit had not been substantial.

The defendants were fined a total of £18,750 and ordered to pay £30,250 costs. Two other defendants, Brian Williams and John Chamberlain, are yet to be sentenced.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “This site posed a risk to the environment and had the potential to harm human health because it did not have the correct infrastructure in place to support the waste being disposed of there.

“Each defendant was given warnings by the Environment Agency that the operation at Cinetic Quarry was unlawful, but these warnings were ignored. This is unacceptable; we take waste crime extremely seriously and will not hesitate to prosecute in cases such as this.”