An illegal waste site in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, has been cleared following a successful court case brought by the Environment Agency.
Concept Investments Limited’s director Austin Fitzgerald was ordered to remove waste from the land at Rutland Road, Sheffield, in April.
Both the company and Fitzgerald, as the director, had admitted offences related to allowing an illegal waste site to operate on land the company owns, known as the Former Stanley Works.
The Environment Agency has announced the site has now been fully cleared, with mixed waste including fridges and other electrical items and inert waste, such as soil and stones, removed.
The order to clear the site was made during sentencing at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on 15 April, where the company and Fitzgerald were also ordered to pay fines and costs totalling more than £20,000.
Another man has pleaded guilty to operating the illegal waste site and is due to be sentenced on 16 September.
Commenting on the case, Ben Hocking, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said: “Illegal waste operations impact on the environment and the lives of local residents, and I’m pleased this site has now been fully cleared.”
“This should serve as a warning for landowners that if you allow illegal waste activity to take place on your land, we will take action.”
The Environment Agency visited the site in 2022 and told the occupier he could not store waste without a permit, and gave him six weeks to clear it.
In 2023, officers inspected the site again and found none of the waste had been cleared, and new waste had accumulated.
The Environment Agency subsequently served a formal notice requiring the site to be cleared by 5 June, 2023, which was not complied with.
The company was fined £8,000, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £5,442, while Fitzgerald was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work, and was ordered to pay costs of £5,442 and a victim surcharge of £114.
