Responding to complaints from other businesses in the area, an Environment Agency Officer visited a site at Westington Quarry run by Stow Skips Limited on 13 January 2011.
A mixture of construction waste, green waste, soils and general household waste, estimated to total more than 2,000 tonnes, was deposited there.
There was also a large pile of combustible materials piled next to a container that had clearly been used for burning waste.
Stow Skips were sent a letter stating all waste activities should stop immediately, and all waste should be removed from site by the 28th February 2011.
On 28th February officers returned to the premises.
Large quantities of waste were still being stored and sorted on site, and there was no evidence of any material having been removed.
On 1 March 2011 Nicholas Scarsbrook, the owner of Stow Skips Limited, attended an interview under caution
He admitted the company was operating a waste site without a permit, and that waste had previously been burnt at the site despite guidance and warnings given to the company.
After pleading guilty at Gloucester Magistrates’ Court to two charges of operating a regulated waste facility without an environmental permit, and a further charge of disposing of commercial waste by burning, the company was fined a total of £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,572 costs, together with a £15 victim surcharge.
