Businesses and individuals who breached environmental regulation in 2023 have been named and shamed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
SEPA revealed that it served £85,700 worth of civil penalties over the course of the year for breaches of environmental regulation.
This included 13 Fixed Monetary Penalties of either £300 or £600 for offences such as burning waste, breaches of water use licences, discharges of sewage effluent and failing to provide SEPA with copies of documents requested in a notice.
Also served this year were a £3,500 Variable Monetary Penalty for waste offences, and a £75,000 fine under F-gas regulations.
Jennifer Shearer, Head of Enforcement at SEPA, said: “Civil penalties are a vital part of our enforcement toolkit, providing a deterrence to those who choose to ignore Scotland’s environmental regulations.
“Enforcement action is a key part of our job as a regulator, ensuring we disrupt and take action against those who harm the environment, communities and legitimate businesses.
“We have a range of enforcement tools available to us depending on the scale and impact of offending including disruption activities, partnership activity with other regulators and authorities, final warning letters, statutory notices, licence suspensions, fixed and variable monetary penalties and reports to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) We’re committed to being proportionate, consistent, accountable and transparent in our enforcement outcomes.”
Fixed Monetary Penalties in 2023:
Six for disposing of controlled waste by burning, £600 each:
- George Steel Contract Services Limited, Falkirk
- Stella’s Voice, Cranfield
- Ian Robert Munro, Alness
- The Good House Company Scotland Limited, Kinross
- Bradley Morgan, Kinross
- The Firm of D & J Thomson, Aberfeldy
Two for breach of a water use licence relating to discharges of surface water from a construction site, £600 each:
- Bellway Homes Limited, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- Tough Construction Limited, Glasgow
Two for a discharge of sewage effluent to the water environment, £600 each:
- Sands Caravan and Camping Limited, Wester Ross
- Robert Main Ellen, Muir of Ord
One in each category as follows £300 each:
- Anthony Barclay, Musselburgh – transporting controlled waste in the course of business, or otherwise with a view to profit, without a waste carrier licence.
- GMR Henderson Builders Ltd, Wick – failure to complete waste transfer notes adequately.
- Barry Bain, Inverness – failure to attend a compelled interview.
Variable Monetary Penalties in 2023
- James Roberts Marshall, Perth £3,500 for allowing controlled waste to be disposed of by burial when no waste management licence was in place authorising the activity. He was also required to pay SEPA costs of £1,050.
Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2015 (the F-Gas regulations 2015)
- DSM Nutritional Products (UK) Limited, Dalry £75,000 for failing to provide a leakage detection system on equipment containing powerful greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
Source: The Herald 29th December 2023
