Man jailed over rule breaches at waste site hit by costly blaze

A BUSINESSMAN who ran a waste transfer site that caught fire and burned for weeks, costing the fire services more than £800,000 to control it, has been jailed for breaching environmental regulations.

Roy Hinchcliffe was repeatedly warned about exceeding Forge Plant Ltd’s permit for the site in Ravenswharfe Road, Scout Hill, Dewsbury, after officers found he was storing thousands of tonnes more waste than the 700 tonnes allowed, but he failed to reduce the level of rubbish, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

On February 7 2010, only days after a suspension notice was served on him, a serious fire broke out and it burned until March 8 with smoke polluting the neighbourhood.

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In addition to the fire service costs, a further £400,000 was spent on management and contractors having to move some of the waste, Diana Maudsley, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court.

Hinchcliffe’s son Neil, who at the time accepted he was a working director of Forge Plant Ltd, was also using another site in Forge Lane, Dewsbury where skips were seen containing waste and waste was found without the appropriate permit.

Roy Hinchcliffe, 70, of Greenside Road, Mirfield, was jailed for two years having been committed for sentence by magistrates after he admitted exceeding the storage limit at Scout Hill, storing waste at Forge Lane, Dewsbury and at Healey Road, Ossett without a permit and failing to comply with a notice to reduce waste.

Neil Hinchcliffe, 49, of West Vale, Dewsbury, was jailed for 16 months after he admitted two offences of operating without a permit and failing to provide transfer notes.

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Judge James Spencer QC told them: “You are before this court to be sentenced for a prolonged and cynical disregard for the regulations designed to protect the environment.

“The waste that you allowed to be stored was unsightly, it was dangerous, it was unfenced and capable of escaping with no element at all of control.”

Fire was a clear hazard and he added: “Fire of course is what happened at Scout Hill, a fire that was burning for over a month, which cost thousands to control and deal with, made worse because of the scale of overtipping within that site.”

He was satisfied the offences were committed for financial gain since by not observing the regulations they were making more money and at the other sites saving on the cost of permits and facilities “and it is the community that has had to pay”.

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Diana Maudsley said in June 2009 officers visited the Scout Hill site and were unable to measure the waste on site because it was too high.

In August that year, Roy Hinchcliffe, the licensee responsible for decision-making, was served with a notice to repair the fence ensuring security at the site and to comply with the 700 tonne storage limit but a month later it was estimated at a minimum 4,000 tonnes.

On January 18 2010, it was seen that large quantities of waste had fallen over the fence on to the river bank and public footpath nearby, that was only a few weeks before the serious fire.

Land used at Healey Road, Ossett, had no permit and a fire occurred there in waste wood in September 2009, while surveillance on the Forge Lane site revealed Neil Hinchcliffe storing full skips of waste without a permit and on one case tipping shoddy type waste on to farmland in Lofthouse.

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Eric Owen for the father and son said Hinchcliffe senior’s intentions were not to make money for himself but trying to keep the business going which had about 22 employees.

It had however failed with the consequential financial loss, and he realised now he should have closed it sooner.

He accepted more waste had been stored at Scout Hill than should have been with the risks associated with that.

He suffered from health problems and a jail sentence would be devastating for him.

His son had subsequently started his own business which would suffer if he was not there.

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