Member Article

Two Manchester firms fined £18,000 for burning waste

Two Greater Manchester companies who were prosecuted for continuing to burn rubbish on farm land despite a series of warnings have been fined £18,000.

Environmental health officers were called to Whitfield Dairy Farm, Mossgate Road, Shaw following complaints regarding deliberately started fires.

Officers spoke to company representatives and advised them that the smoke produced was causing a nuisance to residents in the Shaw and Milnrow areas.

Despite these warnings the companies continued to burn all types of household waste and tyres.

On August 17, 2012 Oldham Council issued a Nuisance Abatement Notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 instructing the representatives not to burn waste.

However, the firm continued to break the terms of the notice. Council officers witnessed full household clearances being burnt including tyres, a toilet, wiring, wood and plastic, on two different sites on the farm.

The council started legal proceedings and on January 28 the case was heard at Oldham Magistrates’ Court.

The bench did not believe that the waste was burnt without the owner’s knowledge. They also found that the owner of the land failed to take all reasonable precautions to prevent the burning of waste which caused severe smoke nuisance in the surrounding area.

The two companies that own the land where the fires took place - Whitfield Dairy Farm Ltd and WDF Estates Ltd - were found guilty of breaching the abatement notice on six occasions and were fined £18,000 with costs of £2,900 awarded to the council.

Councillor Jean Stretton, Cabinet Member for Co-operatives and Neighbourhoods, said: “Burning is not an acceptable or safe way of disposing of commercial waste material – it produces smoke that can damage health and creates a nuisance to people living nearby.

“Oldham Council will always prosecute those who continually flout laws which are there to protect the interests of residents.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .