North East housebuilder Bellway Homes will pay £100,000 to regional environmental charities after dumping waste soil on one of its construction sites. The company imported the waste soil – containing wood, metal, wire cables, rubber, plastic and vehicle tyres – on to its housing development site called St Mary’s Park near Stannington, Northumberland, which was found following site visit from the Environment Agency.
The company, based at AirView Park near Newcastle Airport, submitted an Enforcement Undertaking to the Environment Agency – a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals to make amends for their offending – which the agency has now been accepted. Bellway Homes will pay £50,000 to Northumberland Wildlife Trust, £30,000 to Wear Rivers Trust and £20,000 to Tyne Rivers Trust.
Between November 22 and December 12 2017, the company had brought in around 2,688 cubic metres of contaminated waste soil on to the Stannington site from one of their other developments at nearby Five Mile Park. The soil was imported to create a ‘soil bund’ around an attenuation pond – an artificial pond created to catch excess rainwater.
