Building firm hit by £8,800 court bill over waste stored illegally near a Northamptonshire village

A builder and his firm have been hit with a £8,800 court bill over storing waste illegally near a Northamptonshire village.

Magistrates heard that Martyn Parratt and the business he runs were twice investigated by the Environment Agency after receiving reports he was operating on land next to a busy road near Daventry, the Environment Agency said.

The agency said that family firm MJ Parratt & Son, whose registered address is Queensbridge, Northampton, was told to get a permit in 2017 after inspectors found insulation materials, mixed wood and plasterboard after responding to complaints from the public about waste dumped off the A361 at Badby

Parratt, aged 60, all-but-cleared the land but officers returned in May 2019 and discovered more rubbish — including two ovens and a couple of refrigerators. The Environment Agency said neither Parratt nor the business had permission to carry out the work within strict limits to protect the area from pollution.

The agency said Parratt blamed fly-tippers for the fridges and the ovens and claimed his nephew, James — also a builder — was responsible for some of the new waste, although he had not spoken to his nephew about clearing the site.

Parratt senior admitted his company had left some of the wood and plastic by the roadside and also denied burning some of rubbish, despite investigators finding remnants of a fire, the Environment Agency said.

Environment Agency waste crime officer Paul Salter said: “Operations like Parratt’s are damaging in many ways.

"The potential or actual harm caused to the environment by storing outside of the law; the unsightliness of piles and piles of waste for communities; and the financial effect on businesses who follow the rules, pay their way and protect the environment.

“Despite warnings from the Environment Agency to stop, Parratt and his company continued bringing waste onto the site, and ultimately paid the price with fines and costs approaching £9,000.

“My message to operators like Parratt is get a permit, get legal and stay legal.”

The company pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to dumping and storing waste illegally and Parratt admitted allowing the business to operate without a permit.

Magistrates fined the company £3,500 and Parratt, of The Green, Newnham, £1,467.

Environment Agency costs were split between the two, with the company and Parratt paying £1,765.24 each. The two parties were also ordered to pay victim surcharges of £170 and £146 at a hearing on January 18.

Officials investigated Parratt’s claims his nephew dumped some of the waste beside the A361. James Parratt, 32, of The Paddock, Welton, was given a formal caution for breaching environmental law, the agency said.

A statement from Mr Parratt following the case said: "My family have owned this site since the 1950s. In 1996 planning permission was given to use it to store building materials and builders spoil and most of the items stored at the site were building materials for use in our renovation projects.

"Unfortunately, with changing laws, we failed to get the correct permission from the Environment Agency to do what we had planning permission for.

"The amount of waste was small and, after the Environment Agency intervened it was cleared, and fitted into three skips for transfer to a landfill via a licensed carrier.

"The Environment Agency confirmed in court all waste had been removed as we said. We also produced evidence to the court which showed that all of the waste generated by our works is taken directly for lawful disposal.

"We are pleased that the Environment Agency confirmed that no harm has been caused to the environment whatsoever and that they accepted another individual also deposited waste at the site who was cautioned."