Oliver Henry Alexander King, 52, of Bedale, North Yorkshire, appeared at York Magistrates’ Court on Friday 24 January 2025, where he pleaded guilty to one charge of operating a waste site without an environmental permit, and one charge of failing to comply with a notice to clear waste from the site.
He was sentenced to a 12 month community order with 110 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay costs of £5,422.75 and a victim surcharge of £114.
He was also ordered to clear the site of waste by 21 March, 2025. This regulation 44 order requires King to remove all waste from the site and take it to a permitted site for disposal. If he fails to comply he could be subject to further action.
Waste crime puts ‘environment at risk’
Ian Foster, Environment Agency Area Environment Manager, said:
Environmental permits are in place to protect the public and environment and the way the waste was stored at this site posed a risk of contamination and fire.
King was given a number of opportunities to clear the site of waste but failed to comply with the instructions from our officers.
Illegal activity such as this undermines legitimate businesses that work hard to operate within the regulations, as well as putting the environment at risk and impacting on the local community.
The court heard that King rented land next to allotments at Oran Lane in Catterick.
On 22 June 2023, Environment Agency officers attended the site following reports of an illegal waste operation.
They saw a significant amount of waste piled up including wood, plastics, metal, and construction and demolition waste, as well as household waste like fridges and freezers.
The waste, which was close to a local watercourse, posed a risk of groundwater and surface water pollution and was stored in one big pile, posing a fire risk.
An Environment Agency letter was sent to King with actions including to stop bringing waste on to the site and to start clearing the waste that was already present immediately. He was given until 21 August, 2023 to comply.
Image shows illegal waste stored at the site in Catterick.
Deadline for waste removal extended
Follow up visits by officers revealed that while some waste had been removed, most still remained. It did appear King had stopped bringing waste on to site and he said financial and vehicle issues had prevented the waste from being removed.
He was given until 28 February, 2024, to comply with the original deadline.
On 20 March, 2024, Environment Agency officers went to the site to check compliance with the notice, and it was apparent that the pile of waste remained unchanged.
In interview in May 2024 King said he claimed to have been unaware that he needed an environmental permit or waste exemption – which allows for low level waste activity without the need for a permit – until he was told this by the Environment Agency.
He said he stopped importing and treating waste after the initial visit from officers, but didn’t have the money to remove the waste. He added that he owned property which he planned to sell to fund the site clearance.
Follow up visits by officers during the summer of 2024 saw that while some waste had been cleared, most still remained. An enforcement notice was issued by the Environment Agency requiring the site to be cleared by 23 August 2024. This was also not complied with.
Illegal waste activity can be reported to the Environment Agency on its 24-hour incident line on 0800 807060 or to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Background
Full charges
1 – Between 21 June 2023 and 29 August 2024 at land of Oran Lane, Catterick in the county of North Yorkshire, you did operate a regulated facility, namely a waste operation for the recovery or disposal of waste, except under and to the extent authorised by an environmental permit.
Contrary to Regulations 12 and 38(1)(a) Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
2 – On 24 August 2024, you failed, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a notice dated 09 July 2024 and served on you on pursuant to section 59ZB(2) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in that you failed to remove controlled waste from land at Oran Lane, Catterick.
Contrary to section 59ZB(6) Environmental Protection Act 1990.
