Two Nottinghamshire farming companies have been fined a
total of £28,800 for causing pollution to a pond through
the discharge of maize silage effluent from Sutton Grange
farm in Sutton-cum-Lound near Retford.
The pollution incident resulted in the death of 35 fish and
at the time caused a significant impact on the local
groundwater.
Sutton Grange AD Ltd and Sutton Grange Services Ltd were
successfully prosecuted by the Environment Agency in a case
heard at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Friday 10 May.
The excessive amount of maize stored coupled with the
manner in which it was kept, caused a runoff of highly
polluting maize silage effluent. There was also a failure
to comply with the silage, slurry & agricultural fuel
oil regulations on the part of Sutton Grange Services Ltd
in relation to a second pile of maize.
The two companies pleaded guilty to three charges of
breaching environmental regulations following a number of
pollution incidents in October and November 2015, all
arising from a maize storage/clamping operation at an
anaerobic digestion plant at Sutton Grange farm.
Sutton Grange AD Ltd were fined £6,000 and Sutton Grange
Services Ltd were fined a total of £2,800. Each company was
ordered to pay costs of £10,000, as well as a victim
surcharge of £170.
The court heard how Sutton Grange AD Ltd, which holds an
environmental permit for the operation of its anaerobic
digestion activities, failed to ensure that proper systems
were in place to ensure that only uncontaminated surface
water was discharged into the ponds.
Sutton Grange AD Ltd stored a significant amount of maize
on a purpose built clamp which was built on top of a
manhole linked to a stone outfall at Bluebell pond. Sutton
Grange Services had been contracted to carry out clamping
operations.
Following an earlier report from a member of the public
about a possible fish kill at the lake behind Sutton Grange
Farm on 19 October 2015, on 24 October 2015 officers
received a further notification of a pollution incident at
the same pond. The officers attended and found dissolved
oxygen levels in the pond were extremely low. They also
found the maize clamp was blocked and contained yellow
liquid. The liquid was flowing downwards across the
farmyard.
Further inspections of the site showed silage effluent had
escaped the shallow perimeter drain surrounding the maize
mound and was leaking into the manhole which discharges to
the stone outfall in Bluebell pond, resulting in the fish
kill and significant impact on groundwater quality.
In mitigation, the court heard that both companies had
taken a number of steps to improve operations at the site
to ensure that no further incidents such as this would
happen again. Neither company had any previous convictions
and were given credit for their early guilty pleas.
An officer speaking on behalf of the Environment Agency
said:
Sutton Grange AD Ltd and Sutton Grange Services Ltd have
failed to act in accordance with environmental laws and
as a result they have caused pollution to a pond in the
close vicinity of the farm and the local groundwater.
Pollution of any watercourse is a serious offence because
of the devastating impact it can have on fish, wildlife
and ecosystems. These were entirely preventable
incidents, which led to the pollution of watercourses in
the area and we hope this case sends a strong message to
the farming industry that their activities have the
potential for serious impacts on the environment.
We will always take action against anyone who fails to
act in accordance with environmental laws and if anyone
spots an environmental incident they can report it to the
Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80
70 60.
