A FOOD manufacturer from Worcestershire and an environmental services provider from Warwickshire have been successfully prosecuted by the Environment Agency for causing the pollution of a Worcestershire brook.
On October 24, Worcester Crown Court sentenced Elisabeth The Chef (ETC), from Lower Broadheath, Worcester, and Civil Environmental Project Services Ltd (CEPS) of Bidford-upon-Avon, for causing a discharge into Laugherne Brook, in September 2017.
The companies have been ordered to pay fines and costs in excess of £90,000.
ETC was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £52,000. CEPS was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £20,000.
The Court was told that the discharge caused the deaths of a significant number of fish and that it followed a series of human and corporate failings.
Errors by an employee at CEPS which provided maintenance services to ETC which produces around 40,000 gallons per day of trade effluent and human sewage resulted in foul waste matter being erroneously discharged into the waterway.
A significantly, there was a failure to switch the pumps within the manufacturer’s pumping station back on after routine maintenance.
ETC, a company with previous convictions for environmental offending, initially blamed CEPS for the incident.
But subsequently accepted that it had failed to put in checks and procedures to ensure its on-site pumping station was working correctly.
The company also accepted that it had failed to conduct day-to-day physical checks of its pumping station and containment lagoon.
CEPS was vicariously liable for the actions of its employee. The court heard it had failed to put in place appropriate checks and monitoring to instruct its employee to ensure that work was done competently.
On September 5, 2017, members of the public contacted the Environment Agency to report that the Laugherne Brook was cloudy and dead fish were on the surface.
The Environment Agency managed the response to the incident and identified the source of the pollution and ETC then took action to stop the pollution.
Some 86 dead fish were counted in the accessible sections of the Brook, including brown trout, bullhead, dace, and gudgeon.
Hundreds of fish were estimated to have been killed as a result of the incident.
In sentencing, the court remarked that the state of rivers were ‘at the front of the public consciousness’ and that this was a ‘serious breach of law’.
In mitigation, the court remarked that both companies had undertaken investigations and taken all remedial action to prevent a recurrence.
Kelly Horsley, an environment officer for the Environment Agency in the West Midlands, said: “We welcome this sentence as this was a serious pollution which caused considerable disruption besides fish deaths.
“The Environment Agency will pursue any company that fails to uphold the law or protect nature and will continue to press for the strongest possible penalties.
“Failure to comply with these legal requirements is a serious offence that can damage the environment and harm human health.
