A farmer who was fined £19,000 last year for a pollution incident has been ordered to pay out £2,854.56 more after failing to fix the issue.
Northumberland dairy farmer John Laing and his company were fined £19,162 last year for twice polluting a protected watercourse.
Environment Agency officers first inspected New Heaton Farm on 16 June 2014 after responding to a report of pollution on the River Till tributary 1.5km downstream.
The tributary, which flows into a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), was showing signs of sewage fungus and discolouration corresponding with pollution caused by silage and slurry. Pollution was subsequently found to extend over 4km downstream and had a significantly negative ecological impact.
On the farm officers found a large amount of silage effluent flowing from a defective silage store into surface water drains that fed directly into the watercourse.
On 10 October 2014, Environment Agency officers served a notice on Dalbury Ltd requiring the company to carry out improvements to the silage in line with regulations.
A further inspection on 1 June 2015 revealed that the works had still not been completed and silage effluent continued to leak into the watercourse.
In court last year, Mr Laing apologised and explained that the continued cripplingly low price paid to dairy producers over recent years meant the farm had insufficient funds to fix the problem. He wad ordered to pay out £19,162.
'Disregard'
However, he has appeared at Berwick Magistrates’ Court last week (5 April) having previously admitted contempt of court.
Subsequent visits by Environment Agency officers in August and September 2017 revealed that some work had begun to fix the issue, but not as agreed and to a poor standard.
Mr Laing said he had relied on the assurances of a builder as to the quality of the remedial work and was no longer using the storage facility himself.
Neil Paisley, senior agriculture officer at the Environment Agency, said: “John Laing has repeatedly shown a disregard for the law and a disregard for the environment since an initial pollution incident in 2014.
“Pollution of any watercourse is a serious offence because of the devastating impact it can have on fish, wildlife and ecosystems.
“We will take action against anyone who fails to act in accordance with environmental laws and fails to comply with orders to ensure pollution is prevented.”
