Trio prosecuted for allowing shredded plastic to be dumped on their land

Three company directors have been prosecuted for allowing illegal waste to be dumped on their land.

The trio pleaded guilty to failing to remove waste, wrongly described as soil, from land at the Viridus Group, near Bishop Auckland.

Peterlee Magistrates' Court heard they allowed firms to dump shredded plastic, paper and wood in order to avoid paying landfill tax.

The men have been ordered to pay costs totalling £15,500.

All three have also been barred from being company directors for five years.

The prosecutions followed a probe by the Environment Agency at the manufacture of soil from waste facility in 2017, which found the waste had come from as far away as the Midlands.

John Wood, 54, of St James Fields, Castle Eden, pleaded guilty to neglecting to ensure the conditions of an enforcement notice to remove illegal waste from the site.

He was fined £700, and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.

David Langhorne, 58, of Beaconsfield Street, Hartlepool, and John Campbell, 60, of Studland Road, Redcar, pleaded guilty to the same offence as well as a separate charge of neglecting to ensure the company complied with its own management systems in relation to pollution prevention.

Langhorne was fined £1,174, and ordered to pay £5,500 in costs. Campbell was fined £640 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "This criminal behaviour was motivated by a willingness to attract business from companies prepared to travel large distances to avoid paying landfill tax.

"The judge noted that the offences were perpetrated for financial gain.

"The land here was not designed for waste such as this and their actions could have had a really detrimental impact on the environment."

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