On 27 June 2006 an Environmental Health Officer visited the Old Sand Pit, 199 Camlough Road, Pomeroy. He found the grass bank around the site had been burned and some of the grass was still on fire. Substantial heaps of material appeared to have been burned. There was a large homemade incinerator on site with a ramp allowing lorries to directly dump into the incinerator, which at the time of the visit had burning material inside.
On 6 September 2006 Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) officers went to the Camlough Road, site. They found that the incinerator contained burnt material and that the site smelt strongly of burning. There was a wide range of waste types on site in piles up to four meters in height. On 11 January 2007 officers of EHS returned and found that more waste had been deposited.
Under caution, Mr Gillen admitted to operating an unlicensed waste transfer station and a waste incinerator at land adjacent to 199 Camlough Rd Pomeroy without the permission of the land owner and that he was paid £130 for each skip load of waste he collected.
Mr Gillen was fined £3,000 plus £10 court costs on the first of the seven charges; the remaining six charges were dealt with by a conditional discharge for 12 months.
Notes to Editors:
The controlled waste included tyres, wood, plastics, paint cans, Christmas trees, insulation, children’s toys, televisions, videos, fruit machines, Scrap cars and scrap metal.
Mr Gillen was fined under the following Articles of The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997:Article 4(1) a, relating to the disposal of controlled waste.
Article 4(1) b, relating to the keeping controlled waste in or on land unless a waste management licence authorising the deposit is in force and the deposit in accordance with the licence.
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