A farmer has been fined £5,000 after he built flood defences with material including plastic and metal near the site of a protected Roman amphitheatre. He carried out the works without permission and was warned to stop by police but continued.
Michael Haines, 64, used 2,000 tonnes of material to create an artificial river bund to prevent the River Usk from flooding on land adjacent to the Roman Amphitheatre in Caerleon. He had previously owned the land but it had been sold to Cadw and leased back to him.
Despite being told by Cadw and police he was committing a crime by carrying out the work, Haines continued building the bund in order to protect farming land. He was arrested and charged under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
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A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday heard the defendant had previously lost 30 acres of land to flooding. But the work he was carrying out was said to be detrimental to the environmental conditions of the amphitheatre, which prosecutor Nick Gedge described as "a sight of national importance".
Defence barrister Julia Kendrick said her client's father and grandfather had previously looked after the land and he felt a sense of responsibility to carry on in their footsteps. She said he thought the work was "implicitly accepted" by Cadw as an officer had observed him carrying out the works in 2014 without issue. It was accepted his actions were not a form of vandalism but an attempt to protect the land.
She said the land had previously been flooded as a result of Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis in 2020. Due to the River Usk being tidal, the water is saline and can damage the grass for many years before it can be used for farming again.
Ms Kendrick added: "Mr Haines has been deeply affected by these proceedings. He has struggled to continue with farming and he's now downscaling his flock. He's finally given up what his father and grandfather did before him and is suffering from anxiety as a consequence of these proceedings.... He's lost not just his career but his vocation."
The court heard work to remove the material used to build the flood defence had begun but a third of it remained due to fears its removal could cause damage to the monument. Ms Kendrick said Haines tried to act in the "best interests" of the land and had done what he had thought was necessary.
Sentencing, Recorder Mark Cotter QC said: "These works affectively involved the movement of substantial amounts of material onto land immediately adjacent to the Caerleon Roman site for the purpose of creating or supporting a flood defence in circumstances where there had previously been flooding on the land in question. That landed had been owned by you but was sold to Cadw and leased back to you from Cadw.
"Even though that land was sold and leased back to you so subject to the restrictions relating to Cadw, you have retained a deep connection with the land and felt deep responsibility for it. Ultimately that land is connected to your livelihood. I accept you were acting in consequence of that deep connection with the land but I have to balance that against the fact the acts were made in circumstances you must have appreciated it was necessary to get a form of authority in order to work and the work continued after you had been interviewed by police.
"There is strong public interest archaeological sites are protected and so I have to balance that into account as well as against whatever I may view as the motivation for the activities you carried out. Substantial remedial work has been done but explorations are still taking place."
Haines was initially fined £5,000 but this was reduced to £4,500 after case law was raised by the defence about a similar case about Offa's Dyke. The defendant will serve two months imprisonment if this sum is not paid within 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £1,800 in courts costs.
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