On 29 September 2010 the Environment Agency first received a report that waste materials were being stored on a piece of land in the Doddington Heights area of Kiddiminster, managed by Gary Shorthouse.
Located on the side of Titterstone Clee Hill, parts of which are designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the site also lies on the boundary of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Environment agency officers went to investigate on 13 October.
They found waste materials in skips and on the ground. Records showed there was no Environmental Permit for the site, but G R Shorthouse Limited, a registered skip hire company, was based there.
As an authorised representative of the company Mr Shorthouse was interviewed on 15 November 2010. He confirmed his directorship, that the company was a skip hire and transport business, that the company owned the waste-filled skips, and that there was no Environmental Permit in place.
Subsequently, between December 2010 and May 2011, officers made a series of further visits, regularly seeing waste in skips and on the ground.
Both verbal and written warnings were given to the company that waste could not be stored at the site and that it needed to be removed.
A final site visit on 5 August 2011 appeared to confirm the waste had finally been taken away.
During their investigation officers asked the company to provide Waste Transfer Notes showing the waste coming in and out of the site.
In response, G R Shorthouse Limited supplied 294 transfer notes for the period between 15 January 2009 and 17 December 2010. However many of these documents were not completed correctly.
After a hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court G R Shorthouse Limited was convicted in their absence of operating a regulated waste facility without an environmental permit, as well as of failing to ensure that Waste Transfer Notes were correctly completed on three separate occasions.
The first charge was brought under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010, the second under the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The company was fined a total of £20,000 and ordered to pay £4,410.90 costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge.
