Thomas Joseph Curran (61), of Blackwatertown Road, Armagh was fined £15,000 for breaches of waste management legislation. His son, James Curran (38), of Ballytroddan Road, Benburb was also fined £3,500 for breaches of waste management legislation.
Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) officers conducted an investigation into the illegal land filling of waste at a site to the rear of 9 Ballytroddan Road, Benburb during 2004-2005. On 18 July 2004, James Curran was observed by PSNI officers directing the disposal of waste at the site and admitted to them that the site was being infilled illegally. Three vehicles on the site were found to be registered to Thomas Curran.
Acting on this information from the PSNI, EHS officers conducted an intrusive survey at the Ballytroddan Road site on 11 August 2004. They observed that commercial waste (paper, plastics and some electrical waste) originating from businesses in the Portadown area had been buried in a field adjacent to a watercourse, which discharges to the Ballymartrim Water, a tributary of the River Blackwater.
Thomas Curran, the landowner, was determined to have used the site for the disposal of controlled waste and fined £5,000 on each of three charges under The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. James Curran was found guilty on one charge of directing the infilling of the unauthorised site with controlled waste on 18 July 2004 and fined £3,500.
Notes to Editors:
- At the time of the illegal disposal of waste at the Ballytroddan Road site, Thomas Curran operated a licensed waste recycling facility on the Moy Road, Portadown called Curran Waste Recycling.
- James Curran is the director of Bannview Ltd, which is a waste company.
- Thomas Curran was charged under the following Articles of The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997: Article 4 (1) (a), of knowingly permitting controlled waste to be deposited on land without a waste management licence in force on 18 July 2004; Article 4(1)(b), of keeping controlled waste on land not covered by or in accordance with a waste management licence on 20 July 2004; and Article 4(1)(c) of keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health .
- James Curran was charged under Article 4(1)(a) of knowingly causing controlled waste to be deposited in or on land without a waste management licence in force.
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