£24,000 Fine for Poisonous Pollution

A Norfolk poultry firm has been fined £24,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,143.42 following a prosecution by the Environment Agency under the Water Resources Act 1991, Section 85(1) and Section 85(6).

Banham Poultry Limited appeared before Thetford Magistrates Court on 2 December 2002. They company pleaded guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter Bunn’s Bank at Attleborough in Norfolk on or about 24 March 2002. Also, the company pleaded guilty to breaching the conditions of a discharge consent on or about 24 March 2002.

The Court heard that, on 24 March 2002, Banham Poultry Ltd had gross failure of their discharge consent that allows the company to discharge their treated trade effluents from their premises at Bunns Bank to a tributary of the River Thet. The receiving stream was significantly polluted for approximately 800m. An Agency Officer took a sample from the company’s discharge point and this showed the discharge to be over 10 times greater than the consented limits.

The water consultants who acted on Banham Poultry Ltd’s behalf suggested in a letter that a fractured pipe had been the cause of the gross failure. It was also suggested that the pipe had become damaged by outside contractors.

Further to a routine visit back to the site on 9 April 2002, information received led to an Agency Officer to find out that waste company tankers had been disposing of a considerable amount of liquid waste into the Bunn’s Bank effluent treatment plant on or around 17 March 2002.

Interviews were held at the Environment Agency office with both the waste company and Banham Poultry Ltd. During the interviews it was apparent that Banham Poultry Ltd did not have a waste management licence to treat, keep or dispose of controlled waste at their effluent treatment plant. Also, investigations found that although Banham Poultry’s water consultants had been in contact with the Agency regarding the intake of liquid waste from external sources, no formal agreement had actually been made.

The gross failure from the company’s treatment plant caused the stream to be heavily polluted. Until an Agency officer arrived on site, the failure had not come to the attention of any company personnel, even though Banham Poultry Ltd employ staff at weekends to check the consented discharge point on site.

Banham Poultry Ltd was fined £12,000 for each offence (a total of £24,000) and ordered to pay costs of £2,143.
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