Taylor Wimpey fined six figure sum for polluting river in South Wales

A leading construction company has been fined £480,000 after admitting to polluting a river in south Wales.

Taylor Wimpey - the UK's second largest house builder - pleaded guilty to a charge of causing an illegal water discharge into a tributary of the River Lwyd in October 2021.

The discharge happened at the Taylor Wimpey (Bevan Lane) Housing Development at Sebastopol, Torfaen, following heavy rain.

Cwmbran Magistrates Court heard that Taylor Wimpey had been granted a temporary discharge permit - which allows discharge into a water course as long as certain conditions are met - but that this ran out in March 2018.

But the court heard there were six confirmed and five unconfirmed incidents of silty discharge into the water after that.

This was despite the company being told about the issues "on several occasions" by Natural Resources Wales, and served with a warning letter.

On October 29th 2021 an NRW inspector observed silty water spilling from an overflow basin on the building site into the water course.

Tests on the water revealed it contained 394mg per litre of silt (7 times the permitted level) at the site of the discharge, and 184 mg per litre (more than twice the permitted level) further downstream.

A total area of 717 metres was affected.

Residents 'distressed'

The court heard that silt can harm wildlife by blocking the gills of fish and harming fish eggs, as well as increasing the likelihood of surface water flooding by blocking culverts and drains.

Residents were said to be 'distressed' at the sight of water turning a brown colour.

In mitigation, the court was told that Taylor Wimpey had expected the site at Sebastopol to be "challenging" due to its location, but that it "had proved even more challenging than first envisaged", with"unforseen levels of silt water runoff."

The hearing heard that October 28th 2021 had seen "exceptional rainfall, even by south Wales standards", which had caused an overflow basin to spill into the water course.

It was claimed the water cleared "relatively quickly", and that Taylor Wimpey took its environmental responsibilities "seriously", spending £1.2 million on silt management at the site.

But District Judge Sophie Toms said that Taylor Wimpey had "recklessly failed to put in place mitigations" to prevent the runoff of surface water from the site.

She added that the runoff was "not a one-off incident", commenting that "heavy and persistent rain is not an exceptional event in south wales."

Giving credit for the company's early guilty plea and mitigating factors, the judge imposed a fine of £480,000.

Commenting after the hearing, Edward Davies of Natural Resources Wales said: "The construction industry has a duty of care to protect the communities in which it operates.

"Natural Resources Wales hopes that the outcome today will send a really strong message that environmental regulation is there to safeguard the environment and needs to be taken seriously."

"Natural Resources Wales won't hesitate to take appropriate action against those who disregard environmental legislation."

'Efforts were not sufficient'

In a statement, Taylor Wimpey - who reported profits of £500 million over a five year period - said it "accepted" the outcome and had "a clear strategy to protect the environment."

“Despite our diligent efforts to prevent and remedy surface water issues, including proactive steps based on specialist advice from environmental experts, Taylor Wimpey recognises that these efforts were not sufficient to mitigate the impact of heavy rainfall and adverse weather conditions impacting the site.

"Whilst there is no evidence of actual harm having been caused, Taylor Wimpey expresses genuine regret for the potential environmental problems this issue could have caused.”