Barry Patchett, owner of demolition company BJ Patchett & Sons Ltd, has been fined just £1,000 for running an illegal site.

On Wednesday (3 December), Lincoln Magstriates’ Court heard that Patchett, aged 53, had failed to apply for the right permits to managed waste on his land at Tetney in Grimsby, despite advice and guidance from the Environment Agency (EA) in 2010 and 2013.

More than 9,000 tonnes of waste illegally stored

The prosecutor for the EA, Richard Banwell, told the court that waste operations legally require an environmental permit to operate, but that no such application had ever been received from Patchett.

Following concerns from the public, EA officers attempted to carry out a full site inspection of Patchett’s land on Tetney Lock Road, New Delights last year, but failed.

In September 2013, officers eventually made forced entry into the site (with the assistance of Lincolnshire Police) and found more than 9,000 tonnes of waste, including demolition materials and green waste, being illegally stored.

Patchett and his company, BJ Patchett & Sons Ltd, were asked to attend an interview but they declined. The company had gone into liquidation.

In February 2014, officers visited the site again and noted that it appeared that more waste had been deposited at the entrance and a rubble pile had grown.

As such, the EA took Patchett to court.

‘Not a case deserving the severest penalty’

Speaking on Wednesday, Banwell said: “The offence was committed over several months and it was financially motivated because the waste operation was part of his business. Mr Patchett also failed to respond to advice or to clear the site as requested.”

Patchett had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing but changed his plea to guilty this week.

Mitigating for the defendant, John Wyn Williams argued that Patchett had been “confused” by environmental regulations, which are “complex”, and that Patchett thought his waste facility was compliant. He noted that this was also his first environmental offence.

As such, District Judge Stobart said it was not a case deserving the “severest penalty” but deemed that Patchett “may have given too little time and thought to the requirements” and knew he had to make changes in order to keep his waste site running.

Taking into account Patchett’s financial means, Stobart fined him £1,000 and ordered him to pay full prosecution costs of £18,334.

After the hearing, Environment Agency officer Toni Storr said: “Waste crime is a serious offence. It can damage the environment, blight local communities and undermine those who operate legally.”

Cracking down on waste crime

According to environmental consultancy Eunomia, waste crime costs the UK £800 million a year.

In a report released earlier this year, the consultancy highlighted that cracking down on the illegal management of waste could radically reduce costs and ‘quickly pay for itself many times over’.

It found that the waste industry is seen as ‘an easy target’ for organised criminal gangs owing to the potential for ‘huge profits’ (by avoiding paying for legitimate waste disposal) and the ‘inadequate deterrent provided by ineffective regulation and lenient sentencing’.

As such, there is increasing pressure being put on judges to issue harsher penalties for waste crime. Indeed, new guidance issued by the Sentencing Council this year outlined that magistrates should impose larger fines on waste offences so that offenders ‘are hit in the pocket as well as deterred from committing more crime’.

Find out more about the state of waste crime in the UK or learn more about potential solutions in the next issue of Resource magazine.