29/09/2015

North Yorkshire Pub Fined For Polluting Waterway

A north Yorkshire pub has been fined £150,000 for polluting a watercourse in Teeside.

The Environment Agency prosecuted the Spirit Pub Company Ltd, owners of the Cross Keys Inn in Guisborough, after investigations revealed that sewage was not being treated effectively before being discharged.

The inn has an environmental permit which exists to allow the hotel to discharge treated sewage effluent into a stream. The permit contains conditions to ensure the stream is protected from environmental harm.

An investigation was launched when a brown, foamy effluent was seen running into the stream, which is a tributary of the River Leven, and there were solid waste particles present in the water and around the outfall.

Representatives of the company appeared at Teesside Magistrates' Court on Friday 25 September, where they pleaded guilty and were sentenced for two charges of breaching conditions of the permit and one charge of not sufficiently maintaining the sewage treatment works.

The company was fined £50,000 for each of the three offences, and has to pay costs of £4,596 and a victim surcharge of £120 – a total of £154,716.

The Environment Agency's Jackie Frank said: "There appears to have been no monitoring of the sewage plant between the three-monthly service visits and no visual checks on the outfall.

"When our investigations found that the treatment works were discharging inadequately treated sewage into the stream we told the company to take immediate action, but no steps were taken to make any improvements to the situation.

"There were no proper systems in place to monitor and maintain the performance of the works and their emergency procedures failed."

(MH/LM)

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

29 September 2008
ScottishPower Plan Major Tidal Stream Projects
ScottishPower Renewables today confirmed they are evaluating three separate coastal sites for the development of the world's largest tidal stream projects. Two of the sites are being planned in Scotland, in the Pentland Firth and the Sound of Islay, with the third off the North Antrim coast in Northern Ireland.
03 July 2013
PHE Launch Resistant E. Coli Investigation
Public Health England has launched a UK-wide investigation into the spread of an antibiotic-resistant strain of E. coli. With experts warning there is a growing risk in hospitals, the study will look at the spread of the resistant strain in healthy people, patients, farm animals, sewage and slurry.
11 September 2008
Inquiry After Body Found In Sewage Plant
A murder inquiry is underway after the body of a woman was found in a sewage plant in south-east London. Kaylene Lyle, 43, was found floating in a 10ft settlement tank at Britain's biggest sewage treatment facility in Abbey Wood. A post mortem carried out found Ms Lyle had drowned, but she had also received extensive injuries from machinery.
23 April 2007
Sewage leak stopped at Firth of Forth
A sewage leak at the Firth of Forth, which resulted in millions of litres of sewage being pumped into it, has now been stopped. Millions of litres of sewage pumped into the Forth following a pump failure at the Seafield wastewater treatment plant in Edinburgh on Friday afternoon.
04 August 2004
Thames fish die after storms force sewage discharge
The Thames has witnessed a massive fish kill after tens of thousands of tonnes of sewage washed into the capital's river during a heavy storm last night. Dead fish were seen floating on the river at Kew, Brentford and Isleworth in west London, according to the Environment Agency (EA).