Man from Burton Joyce fined for allowing construction waste to be burned in Beeston

The man admitted to Magistrates at Nottingham Justice Centre on 5 March that he had allowed sub-contractors to repeatedly burn waste at his development at 1 Henry Road, Beeston despite warnings from Council officers, and even after he had been served with a legal notice which banned him from causing a nuisance due to bonfires.

Magistrates fined the man a cumulative total of £4,500 for two offences of allowing the unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste and a further offence of the contravention of an Abatement Notice prohibiting the recurrence of statutory nuisance from smoke. He was also ordered to pay £2,005 in Council costs and a victim surcharge of £1,300.

Councillor Helen Skinner, Portfolio holder for Environment and Climate Change said, “I hope that this case sends out the clear message that it’s simply not acceptable for developers to dispose of trade waste by burning it. The Council has worked hard to achieve huge improvements in air quality across Broxtowe over the last decade, and we’ve seen air pollution reduce by nearly 40% during this time.

In this case the neighbours near to the development were being affected by smoke entering their homes and gardens and were fearful for the possible impact that the smoke could be having on their children’s health. It’s also really important that commercial waste is properly dealt with so that where possible it can be recycled or disposed of in the least environmentally damaging way.”

All businesses have a legal duty not to dispose of waste in a way which is likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health. In this case the courts were satisfied that burning construction waste was a breach of this duty.