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York farm agrees to pay £23K to charity after spreading waste sludge illegally

Wed 9 Aug 2023 @ 3:16pm - Environment, News
YorkMix

The JE Hartley farm on Roth Hill Lane, Thorganby, York. Photograph © Google Street View

A York farm has made a donation of £23K to an environmental charity after illegally spreading waste sludge on its land.

JE Hartley Limited, a farming business that produces frozen vegetables, was found to be in repeated breach of its muck-spreading permit.

The company supplies frozen vegetables to some of the country’s biggest retailers, from its base at Roth Hill Lane, Thorganby.

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JE Hartley at Thorganby

The Environment Agency discovered it had repeatedly spread waste sludge on its land between March 2016 and February 2022 without permission.

JE Hartley operates an anaerobic digestate plant on site which produces a proportion of the company’s energy.

It’s the waste sludge from this plant that the company spreads on land.

Under the conditions of its permit, the company must make an application each time it wishes to spread waste, to say where it intends to spread waste, what type of waste, how much and when.

Every application must also include evidence to show that there is an agricultural benefit from the spreading of waste.

The Environment Agency then considers each application and decides if there is agricultural benefit and whether it can go ahead. 

Records showed that spreading took place every year from 2013 to 2021 in varying quantities from 2.6 tonnes to as much as 10.5 tonnes. However, only four applications for spreading were made during this period – and all were refused, needing additional information. 

That means the company avoided paying applications fees which ranged from £760 to £1,718 each time.

Claire Barrow, area environment manager for North Yorkshire at the Environment Agency, said: “JE Hartley Limited recognised that they had failed to comply with their environmental permit.

“We deemed it appropriate to accept an Enforcement Undertaking offer, which ensured that all avoided application costs were donated to a project that will enhance, restore and protect England’s natural environment.

“In some circumstances, Enforcement Undertakings can achieve a good resolution of our enforcement action, allowing the offender to put things right and help to improve our environment.

“This payment of £23,640 will do just that by supporting the work of the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.”

JE Hartley Limited also agreed to revise its land spreading procedures and not spread without permission, and cover the Environment Agency’s costs.

No environmental harm has been identified from the spreading carried out by the company.

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Wed 9 Aug, 2023

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