Silt costs three construction firms

Failing to prevent silt entering a watercourse during construction work has cost three companies a total of £18,000 in fines and £8,229 in costs

Redditch magistrates’ court was told that a large quantity of silt had entered Battlefield Brook, Bromsgrove, in January 2012, polluting the watercourse for at least a mile, with levels of solid matter suspended in the water more than 250 times higher than normal.

Environment Agency officers traced the source to a nearby building site, where earthmoving equipment had been tracking through the brook and bulldozing the banks.

Investigations found that three companies – Cala Homes (Midlands) and RM Contractors and Complete Tree Services – had failed to take simple measures to prevent silt entering the brook during the clearance works.

Poor judgment, failure to assess the risk and inadequate monitoring of the work were highlighted as contributing factors to the pollution.

Cala Homes and R M Contractors were each fined £8,000, while Matthew Lea (trading as Complete Tree Services) was fined £2,000.

All three firms were also ordered to each pay £2,743.72 in costs.