Yorkshire companies to pay hundreds of thousands after incidents
Following investigations by the Environment Agency, four Yorkshire companies will pay almost £470,000 after they breached environmental permits.
Image shows silt pollution in the watercourse following the Balfour Beatty incident.
The Environment Agency has secured almost £470,000 for environmental improvements in Yorkshire.
The Agency has accepted four separate enforcement undertakings after businesses breached their environmental permits.
The legally-binding payments cover a range of environmental offences, from a fish kill caused by a mine brine discharge to unauthorised water discharges from a major road construction project.
The cash will go directly to local charities, delivering real benefits for wildlife and communities across the region.
The companies made the enforcement undertaking offers after Environment Agency investigations into the incidents.
Further details of the four enforcement undertakings:
- Cleveland Potash Limited will pay £215,000 to the North York Moors National Park Authority following the discharge of mine brine into Easington Beck and Staithes Beck via Boulby Gill, Saltburn by the Sea, which resulted in almost 700 fish being killed in June 2022. As well as the payment, the company also created new habitats around the site of the incident, including wildflower meadows and hedgerows, installed bird and bat boxes and planted over 10,000 trees.
- Balfour Beatty Group Limited will contribute £200,000 to Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust following several unauthorised discharges of silt-contaminated water from its East Leeds Orbital Route construction site in 2020. As well as the payment, the company made changes to the site to prevent further incidents and introduced new environmental protection measures for future construction projects.
- Energy Works (Hull) Limited will contribute £30,000 in total - £10,000 each to Environmental Management Solutions Yorkshire, Conservation Volunteers Humber and East Yorkshire, and Dove House Hospice - following non-compliance with its fire protection plan at its plant at Cleveland Street, Hull in September 2020.
- GWE Biogas Limited will contribute £22,000 to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust after the unauthorised operation of an anaerobic digester tank at Sandhill Biogas Plant, Kirkburn, Driffield, in August 2023.
EUs are ‘an effective tool’
In addition to financial contributions, the companies have taken action to prevent future incidents and will also pay all of the Environment Agency’s investigation costs.
Martin Christmas, Environment Agency Area Environment Manager in Yorkshire said:
When companies fall short of their environmental obligations, we will take action.
Enforcement undertakings are an effective tool to ensure that money goes directly into the local environment, delivering improvements for wildlife and communities.
These four cases show that whether the harm comes from industry, construction or energy facilities, we will hold those responsible to account.
Enforcement Undertakings are legally binding agreements between the Environment Agency and companies that have breached environmental rules. The undertaking requires the company to take steps to prevent repetition of the offending and to put right the damage it has caused.
It usually includes a payment to an environmental charity to carry out improvements in the local area. This money can help deliver immediate benefits to the environment. The Environment Agency continues to prosecute organisations and individuals for environmental offences where evidence shows high levels of culpability and serious environmental harm.
Further background
Enforcement undertakings:
- Enforcement undertakings are a civil sanction available under the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010. They are a legally binding agreement accepted by the Environment Agency.
- The Environment Agency may accept an Enforcement Undertaking where it has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person offering the Undertaking has committed an offence.
- It will only consider accepting an Enforcement Undertaking for cases where the offer itself addresses the cause and effect of the offending; or the offer protects, restores or enhances the environment.
- The Environment Agency continues to prosecute organisations and individuals for environmental offences where evidence shows high levels of culpability and serious environmental harm.
- For further information about the Environment Agency’s enforcement and sanctions policy visit: Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy