An illegal waste operator and company have been fined £25,000 for illegally dumping waste at a farm near Windsor.

The court heard that waste management company Simpson Environmental Services Limited currently holds an Environmental Permit to operate a waste transfer station in Stoke Poges Lane, Slough, which is allowed to accept household, commercial and industrial wastes to be sorted and then removed from the site. However, the company was also found to be unlawfully depositing waste at land owned by Mark Jones, 49, at Brayfield Farm, in Water Oakley, Windsor.

According to Environment Agency (EA) officers, between 2006 and 2011 on-site visits had revealed that Simpson Environmental Services had brought an estimated total of 57,600 tonnes of waste soils onto Jones’s land. The court heard that despite both parties being told that permission was needed to continue bringing waste onto the site (under strict controls), permission was never obtained.

The EA also found that Simpson Environmental Services had paid Jones ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ to accept the waste on his rented land.

In sentencing, the magistrates reportedly ‘took into account the huge amounts of money involved’, fining Jones £5,000 for three offences of ‘causing or permitting the unlawful deposit of waste’ between August 2006 and December 2010, and ordering him to pay costs of £4,793, plus a victim surcharge of £120.

Simpson Environmental Services Limited pleaded guilty to three offences of unlawfully deposition waste and was ordered to pay the same amount of costs as Jones, plus the victim surcharge and a fine of £20,000.

Speaking of the sentencing, Environmental Crime Officer Tom Haysler said: “Both Mr Jones and Simpson Environmental Services Limited had been told on a number of occasions that they were acting illegally by tipping waste materials on land designated for agriculture, so it is satisfying that the court has recognised this. In this case it occurred on land directly bordering the river Thames and in the immediate vicinity of the Olympic venue at Dorney and close to Windsor Castle.

“Increasingly we are investigating the financial gains made by waste criminals where waste is being dumped unlawfully. We hope that these fines send a clear message to criminals that we are coming for them.

“We will continue to investigate illegal operators and bring them to court no matter how long it takes. Operating illegal waste sites is unacceptable and can have severe detrimental environmental impacts.”

Those who operate waste sites are under obligation to have an environmental permit in place, and skip operators are under a statutory Duty of care under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to deliver the waste to a regulated site.

The Environment Agency has asked anyone who sees anything suspicious concerning the transfer and handling of waste to contact them on 0800 80 70 60.