Wood dust leakage brings £3,000 fine
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A haulier has been fined after neighbouring businesses complained of excessive amounts of dust in the air
By Roger Brown
LARNER PALLETS (Recycling) has been fined £3,000 after it allowed wood dust caused by trucks being loaded with wood chip to escape from one of its yards.
In an Environment Agency prosecution (EA), Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court was told how businesses close to the wood recycling company’s facility on the Finedon Road Industrial Estate in the town complained that the dust was so heavy it looked like snow was coming down. Others said they could “taste” the wood in the air, that it caused irritation to eyes and sneezing, and also covered cars with dust, which was often difficult to remove as some of it contained sticky sap.
The court heard about two neighbouring businesses, which carry out specialist work on classic cars worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, who were concerned about the dust.
Miriam Tordoff, prosecuting for the EA, told the court that in June 2010 the company had indicated that it would put up a building to overcome the dust problem.
However, the dust was still causing problems for neighbours more than a year later.
Planning permission for the building was only granted in March and has not yet been built.
Tordoff said that even when the company had a dust-suppression system, there were several occasions when work was seen to be taking place without the suppression equipment being used.
The court heard there was a history of dust complaints at the site, resulting in abatement notices being served by Wellingborough Borough Council under statutory nuisance legislation in 2003 and 2004, neither of which was complied with.
Tordoff said the council was going to bring legal proceedings but was unable to in the statutory time.
Further complaints were received in 2005 and 2007 and, when a final one was received in 2009, the matter was handed to the EA. She said that, as recently as February, an officer from the agency had witnessed dust billowing in the air as a lorry was being loaded with wood chip. There was no evidence of dust suppression being used.
In mitigation, David McEwan said on behalf of the company that they had offered their telephone number to neighbours to report dust escaping. The company has now arranged for a high netting fence to be put up.
Larner Pallets (Recycling) admitted to breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 between June 2010 and September 2011. The company was also ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
EA officer John Jones says: “This prosecution was entirely avoidable and only started when it was apparent that continued advice and guidance was being ignored. Where such advice is continually ignored to the detriment of the public and surrounding businesses, the EA will prosecute to bring offenders into compliance.”