Strabane district council fined £20,000 for waste offences

Strabane District Council was fined a total of £20,500 plus £37 costs at Strabane Magistrates’ court today for eleven breaches of waste management legislation.

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) officers investigated a site, operated by the Council, at 76 Strabane Road Newtownstewart, where a substantial quantity of municipal waste was deposited.

The waste was stored in a shed and segregated into piles of dry recyclables and normal domestic waste. During one of the inspections a vehicle owned by the council deposited a load of waste road sweepings onto the site.

No waste management licence was in force for the site and the site itself was in poor condition. There were concerns that the storage shed was open to the elements on one side, there was no means of securing the building and there was no drainage from the loading bay area.

In spite of repeated warnings from the NIEA and a notice directing that waste bulking activities must cease and the waste already there to be removed, Strabane District Council continues to operate the site.

Notes to Editors:

1. The controlled waste found on the Council operated site at 76 Strabane Road Newtownstewart consisted of mixed municipal waste and dry recyclables such as what would be found in the normal household black bin and blue bin.

2. Strabane District Council pleaded guilty to eleven offences and was fined under the following:

under Article 4(1)(a) of The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. The charge related to depositing controlled waste without there being in force a waste Management License -

• two charges at £1000 each
• one charge at £1,500
• one charge at £3,000.

Under Article 4(1)(b) of The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. The charge related to keeping controlled waste without there being in force a waste Management License -

• two charges at £1000 each
• two charges at £1,500 each
• three charges at £3000 each.

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