Somerset cheese company fined £20,000 for third pollution offence

A cheese company in North Somerset has been been made to pay more than £24,000 after being found to have polluted the local area for the third time.

Alvis Brothers Ltd, who make Lye Cross Farm cheeses, pleaded guilty of causing discharge of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter at Bristol Magistrates Court on Friday 10 November.

The company, based at Lye Cross Farm in Redhill, Bristol, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,520.20, as well as a victim surcharge of £190.

Alvis Brothers were brought to court by the Environment Agency, after the company offered to pay an Environmental Undertaking sum - an alternative to a criminal conviction - to the government body, which it rejected.

The court heard officers from the Environment Agency visited a tributary of the Congresbury Yeo, downstream of Lye Cross Farm in September 2020, following reports of white discolouration in the water.

They found the tributary was milky both in colour and in smell.

They also discovered the pollution had been caused by a blocked pipe that was meant to be taking wash water from the farm's cheese production facility to their onsite treatment works.

But due to being blocked with a plastic bag containing gloves and other plastic, this pipe had overflowed into the tributary.

In a later interview under caution, Nick Green, the farm operations director, admitted the offence and said the company was sorry.

He pointed out the measures taken after they became aware of the pollution spill to mitigate the effect on the watercourse.

But the Environment Agency argued in court that the blockage was clearly caused by everyday items being disposed of inappropriately and that there appeared to be no alarm to alert staff that the drainage system was blocked or was spilling.

It also added that despite the pollution being clearly visible, it was not reported to the Environment Agency.

The court also heard the company had similar offences in 2013 and 2019.

District Judge: 'Alvis Brothers Ltd hoped to get away with pollution incidents'

District Judge Matthews said it was clear the company was failing to self-report pollution incidents to the Environment Agency because it "hope[d] to get away with pollution incidents.”

She ordered the Mr Green, to tell the court under oath how many times they had self-reported a pollution incident, to which he replied “zero.”

Judge Matthews also said she was unsurprised the Environment Agency had rejected Alvis Brothers' environmental undertaking sum due to their repeated behaviour.

Following the court hearing, Senior Environment Officer, Jo Masters said: “This is the third time Alvis Brothers Limited has been prosecuted since 2015 for polluting the watercourse.

"We strive to work with farmers to prevent pollution through advice and guidance, but we are clear we will take action where offending is repeated and offenders aren’t willing to change their practices to ensure environmental protection.

Ms Masters added: "Incidents can be reported to our incident hotline 24/7, 365 days a year on 0800 80 70 60.”