A farmer in Cornwall has been hit with huge fines after he dumped waste in an old quarry and damaged a badger sett. Newquay farmer William Salmon destroyed a badger sett by dumping waste into a disused quarry that had been reclaimed by wildlife.
The 62-year-old farmer, also known as John, from Trevemper Farm, Trevemper, Newquay, appeared before Truro Crown Court on Friday, July 26. He pleaded pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges involving depositing waste on his own land in Trerice, near Newquay.
He was hit with a total fine of £4,000, as well as being ordered to pay £17,500 costs and told to cough up £72,200.95 in a Proceeds of Crime Act confiscation, all to be paid within three months. On top of this, Salmon is required to pay approximately £250,000 to HMRC for landfill tax costs he should have paid earlier for the waste, as well as covering his own legal costs.
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In the case brought by the Environment Agency, the court heard how Salmon had created a track across farmland to gain access to a disused quarry. The quarry, which had become overgrown over decades and reclaimed by wildlife, including badgers that had built a sett at the site, was filled with construction waste over several months by Salmon, destroying the habitat that had developed there.
Salmon had registered a U1 exemption, which allowed the use of specific types and quantities of clean waste materials in construction. Waste transfer notes provided by Salmon suggested he had imported around 1,200 tonnes of waste brick and concrete from a site in Newquay to construct a track.
He informed officers that the waste they had seen dumped into the quarry came from his own farm and believed he did not require any permissions or paperwork for this.
However, Environment Agency investigators discovered that construction and demolition waste had been moved from a housing development site for disposal at the site and that Salmon had received payment to remove it. Some waste had also been burnt there.
Judge Carr told Salmon: "You took a deliberate decision to use a disused quarry to deposit waste in breach of the environmental permitting regime. When you were spoken to by the Environment Agency about the waste, you lied. The Environment Agency's investigation into your finances opened a Pandora's box.
"Once you have misled a government agency, do not be surprised if they look under every rock. You have learned an extremely expensive lesson by breaching the environmental regime."
Richard Cloke of the Environment Agency said: "We won't hesitate to go after those who break laws designed to protect the environment. In this case, Mr Salmon not only flouted the rules around disposal of waste, but he also did so with a flagrant disregard for wildlife."
