Environment Agency issues Stop Notice to Norfolk landowner

Environment Agency officers issued the notice on Thursday 16 June. The notice was issued to prevent the deposit of waste and waste fires on land at Kenfield Farm, Main Road, Clenchwarton near King’s Lynn, after a blaze in May on the land.

A Stop Notice is issued to prohibit a particular activity where the Environment Agency believes there to be a significant risk to human health or the environment.

The deposit and burning of waste is now prohibited at Kenfield Farm. If the landowner fails to comply with the notice they can then be taken to court and prosecuted, as breaching the notice is a criminal offence. The notice will remain in place until such action is taken to mitigate the risk and the site has been brought into compliance.

Investigations into alleged waste activities at the site are continuing.

Phil Henderson, Enforcement Team Leader at the Environment Agency, said:

We take unauthorised waste activity very seriously and will take the necessary action to prevent the risks that this poses and prosecute those responsible where appropriate.

Everyone producing waste, including small businesses and householders, must ensure that their waste is only taken by registered waste carriers to properly permitted waste sites. Otherwise they themselves could be liable to prosecution.

If anyone witnesses waste being taken onto, or burning at this site, please email EAN-Enforcement-West@environment-agency.gov.uk. If you have any other information about the site that could help our enquiries or any other unauthorised waste sites or activities please contact us. You can contact us via our incident free hotline 0800 80 70 60 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The Environment Agency has worked closely with partners in the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk and Norfolk Police to take action against this unauthorised site.

A spokesperson from Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, said:

This sort of behaviour shows an utter disregard for the local community and the environment, and we will not tolerate it. We will do everything in our power to put a stop to unauthorised waste disposal when we become aware of it.

Tackling this sort of behaviour is most effective when agencies and the public work together. Our role is to work with the Environment Agency to investigate and take joint action when it happens.

The public can help us by reporting incidents and eliminate the market for it by checking that any waste carrier they use to dispose of rubbish for them is licensed.

• Sections 33(1)(a) and 33(6) Environmental Protection Act 1990 make it an offence for any person to deposit, knowingly cause or knowingly permit the deposit of controlled waste on land without or in breach of an environmental permit or exemption.

• Sections 33(1)(c) and 33(6) Environmental Protection Act 1990 make it an offence to treat, keep or dispose of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm human health.

• Controlled waste means household, industrial and commercial waste or any such waste.

• The penalty for breaching a Stop Notice is: on summary conviction, a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or both; or on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or a fine, or both.