Trio ordered to pay £14k over illegal waste dump

A tractor and trailer containing a further eight tonnes of shredded waste arrived at the farm while firefighters were present

Three men have been ordered to pay a total of nearly £14,000 for their roles in using a farm as an illegal waste site.

The Environment Agency (EA) said mobile phone records helped prosecute the trio, who admitted their involvement in depositing shredded waste at Great Low Farm in Buxton.

Joseph Kidd, Anthony Melland and Adam Swindells were sentenced on Thursday at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court for the offences, which took place between 6 and 9 November 2020.

Each defendant was ordered to pay a fine, costs and victim surcharge, totalling £13,970.

According to the EA, the court was told firefighters attended the farm on 9 November 2020, where shredded waste and tyres were ablaze.

The authority said the trio were without an environmental permit and failed to keep waste transfer notes.

While crews tackled the fire, a JCB Fastrac and trailer, driven by Swindells, arrived at the farm containing a further eight tonnes of shredded waste, the EA added.

'Environmental threat'

Derbyshire Police's rural crime team joined the EA to investigate, which resulted in the arrests of Melland, the landowner, driver Swindells and tractor owner Kidd.

The trio's phones were seized, providing evidence of their previous deposits.

They originally denied the charges but pleaded guilty on the first day of their scheduled trial.

Brian Jones, lead investigator for the EA, said: "This site posed a significant environmental threat due to the high risk of fire and potentially significant impact to local communities and amenities."

Andy Shaw, from the rural crime team, said the trio could have been "in no doubt about their illegal activities and the potentially serious environmental and health-related issues that they could have caused".

The pleas and sentence of the trio are below in full:

• Kidd, 35, of Delamere Drive, Macclesfield, pleaded guilty to depositing shredded waste and was fined £830, given a victim surcharge of £83 and ordered to pay costs of £8,000

• Melland, 54, of Great Low Farm, Buxton, also pleaded guilty to depositing shredded waste and was fined £432, given a victim surcharge of £43 and ordered to pay costs of £2,000

• Swindells, 30, of Daisy Place, Congleton, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a written description of the waste that was transferred and was fined £529, a victim surcharge of £53 and ordered to pay costs of £2,000.