Bycott Farm Ltd of Halberton, Devon, has been fined a total of £4,300 for charges related to polluting a watercourse with slurry.
The company was also ordered to pay costs totalling £1,765 and a victim surcharge of £190 for two charges including an incident of disposal of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution or harm human health.
Exeter Magistrates Court heard that, in October 2021, Environment Agency officers found that a ditch leading to a tributary of a Spratford stream was polluted and they traced the source to a pipe discharging into the ditch and also dirty water flowing across a nearby field.
Mischka Hewins of the Environment Agency said: “This is an example of a farm causing pollution to our rivers.
“The farm owners failed to take action to stop the pollution even when it had been brought to their attention.
“We hope the fine issued by the court will serve as a warning to others to ensure their farms are not damaging the environment.”
Contamination
After Environment Agency officers traced the source of the pollution back to Bycott Farm Ltd, they met with farm owners and father and son Stephen and Tom Dibble.
The Environment Agency said Stephen Dibble confirmed that water from the yards between the cattle sheds drained to the pipe seen by the officers.
Water contaminated with slurry was running into surface water drains connected with the pipe discharging to the stream.
Slurry was also running off the yard and mixing with effluent from an “improperly constructed silage clamp”, subsequently flowing several hundred metres across land into the water course.
Officers returned the following day, but found contaminated water was still running into the ditch.
Further investigations two months later found polluted water flowing into the ditch.
The Environment Agency said “thick sewage fungus” was visible in the watercourse for more than two kilometres downstream.
There was also evidence of burning of controlled waste at the farm, including plastics, paint tins and a medical sharps bin.
Increased herd size
During an interview with the Environment Agency, Stephen Dibble, director of the company, said the dairy herd had increased in size in recent years to over 1,000 cows.
He did not think he needed to notify the agency of increased silage clamp facilities.
The Environment Agency said he accepted that slurry and silage effluent was running into the ditch from the clamp and the yard.
He also accepted that routine checks for problems with infrastructure that could cause pollution were not carried out and reluctantly agreed that waste was being burnt.
In handing down the sentence, District Judge Smith said £900,000 had since been spent on infrastructure by the company as a result of this case.
