A County Durham farmer has been fined £1,600 for operating a waste treatment facility without a legal permit.

Stephen Anthony Suddes, 52, was handed the fine by Darlington Magistrates Court yesterday (12 May) after investigating officers from the Environment Agency (EA) visited his farm near Tow Law, Bishop Auckland, in May 2012 and reported evidence of illegal waste fires having been lit.

The court heard that EA officers found a ‘large pile of mixed waste’ that included green waste, wood, plastics, metal, rubble and soils, and ‘clear signs of scorched earth, indicating that the pile had been on fire’.

On revisiting the site in summer, officers reported finding timber and black plastic bags filled with waste on the pile, along with ‘smouldering ash’ present, indicating that there had been a more recent fire.

Piles of untreated mixed waste were also found in one of Suddes’s farm buildings. However, the defendant said that most of the waste burned had originated from his own premises, and he had not collected it from other sources.

He added that some of the waste on the burned pile had been flytipped on his land, although he had burned that as well as the waste he had generated himself.

As such, Suddes, who had a previous conviction for illegally depositing waste, admitted one charge of operating a regulated waste facility without a permit.

He was fined £1,600 for operating a waste treatment facility without a legal permit and ordered to pay £2,909.85 in legal costs and a £160 victim surcharge.

Speaking after the hearing, Andrea Wass, Environment Officer at the Environment Agency, said: “The fine imposed by the court demonstrates the seriousness of environmental offences. Waste facilities can pose a risk to the environment and local communities if they are not properly managed – that’s why it is vital that farmers, companies and individuals work within the rules.”

Find out more about how the Environment Agency cracks down on waste crime.