The culmination of a legal process spanning four years, Arthur Morgan was fined £17,500 and ordered to pay a contribution of £30,000 towards the Environment Agency’s costs after appearing for sentencing at Burnley Crown Court last week (March 4).
After a prosecution brought by the Agency, Mr Morgan had pleaded guilty to knowingly allowing hundreds of bales of mixed waste to be tipped on the site of a former chemical factory on Nook Lane, Oswaldtwistle, in Lancashire.
According to the Agency Mr Morgan controlled the Nook Lane site through Isle of Man-registered companies, and Hyndburn borough council first alerted the Agency to activity at the site in summer 2012, believing waste was being illegally dumped.
Agency officers investigating the site alleged that 13,000 tonnes of mixed waste had been baled and stored at a site run by Blakeley’s Waste Management Ltd’s in Wigan before being moved to Nook Lane, which had no environmental permit in place for this waste.
At an earlier hearing on November 5 2015, Blakeley’s Recycling Limited was fined £15,000, and ordered to pay £15,000 to the Prosecution’s costs for tipping the waste at the Nook Lane site operated by Arthur Morgan. .
“The people of Oswaldtwistle really suffered the impacts of these offenders, and we are pleased for the community that this serious offence has been successfully prosecuted.”
Steve Molyneux
Environment Agency
Liverpool site
Mr Morgan also pleaded guilty to allowing approximately 5,000 tonnes of contaminated mixed demolition waste to be tipped on land adjacent to railway tracks at another site at Hi-Craft House, Seaforth, Liverpool, between November 2011 and January 2012.
According to the Agency, there were no permissions in place for this waste, and the materials were found to be detrimental to the environment in several ways, including potential pollution to water and hazards to human health.
Environment Agency images of both the Oswaldtwistle and Liverpool sites can be viewed in the gallery at the bottom of this page.
Delays
A “thorough and comprehensive criminal investigation” started immediately after the Agency became aware of the tipping at Nook Lane.
When Mr Morgan first appeared at Accrington Magistrates Court in May 2013, he initially pleaded not guilty to offences.
Sentencing was adjourned as the court ordered further investigation into his finances before deciding on the appropriate sentence.
Judgement
In passing judgement on Friday (March 4), Her Honour Judge Lunt said that Arthur Morgan’s offences had caused “real problems” for people in the local area.
Commenting on the case, Steve Molyneux, environment manager at the Environment Agency, said: “The people of Oswaldtwistle really suffered the impacts of these offenders, and we are pleased for the community that this serious offence has been successfully prosecuted.”
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