Environmental analysis news: Farm fined over Lincolnshire river pollution

A farming company has been fined after sewage effluent was allowed to pollute a local waterourse.

According to the Environment Agency, Staples Brothers Limited have been ordered to pay £10,000 and £4,939.99 in costs.

The effluent was discharged into the tributary of the Wrangle Drain, which is just two miles away from the Wash, a special conservation area.

Company director Vernon Read said the organisation did not know it was discharging the polluting effluent.

Speaking after the hearing, which took place at Boston Magistrates' Court, Environment Agency team leader Man Fai Tang said: "Companies with treatment plants which discharge into water courses have a responsibility to ensure they are not having an adverse impact on the environment."

In related news, a Gloucestershire hotel was earlier this week ordered to pay £11,460 in fines and court costs after allowing sewage effluent to pollute a nearby waterway.

The Hare and Hounds Hotel at Westonbirt near Tetbury has its own sewage plant and discharged treated liquid into the tributary of the Tetbury Avon.

Written by Joseph Hutton