A 72 year old landowner in Essex has been jailed for six months after breaching a two year suspended sentence passed to him in 2013.
Under the conditions set to him in January 2013, Roger Frederick Phipps was given an eight month sentence and 180 hours unpaid work. He was also fined £15000. He has reportedly not paid the fines or court costs, however has carried out the hours.
His offences included operating the site without a waste permit and without planning permission. The site was also running without an environmental permit from 2008 to 2011.
Essex County Fire Service has reported that it attended the waste site 35 times between December 2009 and June 2010. Tyres, plastics, building waste and cylinders were amongst the most worrying of items on the fires.
Judge Turner said Phipps had been given ‘every opportunity’ to comply with the law, and the Environment Agency is now working to stop the site from operating illegally indefinitely.
