Landowner guilty after waste burnt

A LANDOWNER has been fined £150 after he allowed waste to be dumped and burned on his site.

Steven Huckle admitted a charge of burning waste on the land in Stotfold Road, Arlesey on the basis that he only burnt wooden items, Bedford Magistrates’ Court heard.

Following a trial at the court on Wednesday last week (December 7) he was also found guilty of allowing waste to be dumped there, and ordered to pay a £500 contribution towards costs.

An investigating officer from the Environment Agency told magistrates that on January 15 last year she had noticed that a pile of waste had appeared on the land and that some of it was partially burned.

The pile included carpet, packaging, wood from furniture, metal, plastics, mattress springs, cassette tapes and a box of wood shavings.

Inside the box was paperwork for a Mrs J Huckle.

In defence Huckle denied knowing anyone by the name of Mrs J Huckle. He said he had given permission a couple of weeks before to someone he had met a few times to deposit fence panels and posts on his land but he later discovered that different waste had been deposited.

He could not remember what arrangements had been made for access but said that the gate was kept locked.

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