Construction polluters fined

The Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted a house building company who failed to control silt run off from a site.

Harron Homes were fined £120,000 for illegally polluting a watercourse in Huddersfield, in 2015. The Leeds-based company was sentenced yesterday following prosecution by the Environment Agency and admitting to one charge of causing illegal discharges from its Farriers Croft estate in 2015.

After failing to control silt run off from the site, the Environment Agency found that the watercourse had been polluted on several occasions with the run off entering a tributary of Grimescar Dyke.

The Agency responded to reports of pollution and an officer visited the site on 20 November 2015, they witnessed polluted water flowing out of the entrance of the construction site. The company was also pumping silt contaminated water from site excavations which also entered the watercourse.

Harron Homes attempted to control pollution by setting up settlement tanks, yet further incidents of pollution were reported in November and December 2015. Subsequent inspections by the Environment Agency revealed that this system was inadequate and silty water was found to be discharging, resulting in further pollution.

Samples taken from the discharges showed that they were having a significant impact on the water quality in the watercourse up to three kilometres further downstream. Some samples showed there to be nearly 35,000 milligrams of suspended solids per litre of water, whereas a healthy watercourse is expected to have a concentration lower than 30 milligrams per litre.

Mark West, environment management team leader at the Environment Agency, said: “These pollution incidents had a significant impact on the water environment over a number of weeks, and were entirely avoidable. In West Yorkshire there has been a worrying increase in the number of pollutions incidents reported to us that on investigation are attributable to the construction sector.

“Construction companies should consider the potential environmental impact of developments they undertake at the initial planning stage and must adhere to environmental permitting rules and invest in appropriate management systems to prevent their activities from affecting the local environment.”

Harron Homes has stated that it had now put procedures in place to prevent future pollution incidents.

In addition to the fine, the company was ordered to pay £8,706.71 in legal costs and a £120 victim surcharge.

 

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