Major farming business hit by £34,000 pollution fine

One of the UK’s largest farming businesses has been ordered to pay more than £34,000 after it polluted a water course leading into a major river.

Velcourt, which manages more than 90,000ha of farmland in the UK and overseas, pleaded guilty at Hereford Magistrates Court on 4 April to polluting a tributary of Hardington Brook, which feeds into the River Frome in Somerset.

See also: Leading dairy farmer fined £29,000 for pollution offences

The incident took place four years ago, in August 2018, after intense rainfall followed a period of dry weather, washing muck from cow tracks into a ditch.

The ditch was overwhelmed causing a discharge into local waterways, killing fish in the Hardington and Buckland Brooks.

Environment Agency (EA) officers were called in and traced discoloured water to a sidestream flowing from Manor Farm, Hardington.

The farm is managed by Velcourt on behalf of the Radstock Co-operative Society. 

‘Discoloured’

The discharge from the farm’s surface water drainage system was heavily discoloured, and contained concentrations of substances with a very high oxygen demand, an EA spokesman said.

The farm manager stopped the discharge and emptied the ditch. But a follow-up inspection on 14 September 2018 found polluting matter remained in the ditch.

Inspectors concluded the farm’s dirty drainage system still posed a high potential pollution risk due to “insufficient storage capacity and inappropriate engineering”.

The environment officer said the farm’s clean and dirty water systems were not adequately separated, and the slurry storage and dirty water drainage systems had not kept pace with the expansion of activities at Manor Farm.

The company, whose head office is in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, was fined £20,000 plus £14,000 in costs, and a £170 victim surcharge.

Immediate response

A statement by Velcourt accepted the ruling, but pointed out that the system had previously been approved and worked successfully until that point.

“It was the Velcourt team’s quick and immediate response that was able to mitigate the impact of this event,” it said. “It was an unfortunate set of circumstances triggered by the intensity of the weather event. But Velcourt accepts that the responsibility ultimately lies with us.”

Velcourt also pointed out that the fine was set at the minimum level for this type of incident in recognition of its rapid reaction to the pollution.

The statement added that an infrastructure plan and new dairy facilities had been built with a £3.3m investment since the event took place.

Meanwhile, the farm owners, Radstock Co-operative Society, accepted an enforcement undertaking in relation to its responsibilities in the case and has voluntarily paid £10,000 to the environmental charity Westcountry River.