Published on 11th November 2015

A wooden gavel on top of a document

In court on Monday (9 November) a local business was successfully prosecuted by Cheltenham Borough Council, resulting in a fine of over £10,000.

In March this year, the council’s environmental protection team received complaints from residents in Leckhampton Road of dust being spread over their property from the use of a mobile crusher at a re-development site at the former Vulcan Works on Leckhampton Road. An officer from the department visited the site and found a mobile crusher operating. On investigation, the equipment was operating without the correct water sprays to control dust emissions, and the operator could not produce the correct environmental permit.

At Cheltenham Magistrates Court, Nick Elliott, Director of Elliotts (Cheltenham) Ltd, admitted the offence, and claimed that this was the first time the plant had been operated away from one of his own sites, and he was unaware that the plant needed an environmental permit.

Gareth Jones, senior environmental health officer, said: “This prosecution demonstrates that the council takes these offences seriously and won’t hesitate to prosecute where site operators don’t comply with the appropriate legislation. The level of fine reflects that the operator avoided fees he should have paid and profited from hiring out the equipment to a construction site.”

Cllr Andrew McKinlay, cabinet member for development and safety, added: “This is a significant penalty; one of the largest fines we’ve seen for such an offence. It sends out a strong message to plant operators that we are committed to protecting the environment and we will take action when operators don’t comply with legislation.”

The company was fined a total of £10,355, plus a victim surcharge £120 and costs were awarded to the council of £450.

 

 
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