The conservation charity the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust is set to receive a donation of almost £24,000 from a farming business that was found to be illegally spreading waste sludge.
The Environment Agency said J E Hartley Ltd, of Thorganby, near York, had submitted an enforcement undertaking after repeatedly spreading waste sludge on its own land between March 2016 and February 2022 without permission.
An enforcement undertaking is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals to make amends for their offending, the Environment Agency said.
The business, which produces frozen vegetables for some of the UK’s largest retailers, according to the Environment Agency, had offered to pay £23,640 to the charity to make amends for its offending.
The company was supposed to make an application to the Environment Agency each time it wanted to spread waste, but failed to do so on repeated occasions, the regulator said.
“Records showed that spreading took place every year from 2013 to 2021 in varying quantities from 2,664 tonnes to as much as 10,530 tonnes,” the EA said.
“However, only four applications for spreading were made during this period and all were refused, needing additional information.
“Therefore, the company avoided paying application fees which ranged from £760 to £1,718 each time.”
Claire Barrow, area environment manager for North Yorkshire at the Environment Agency, said: “In some circumstances, enforcement undertakings can achieve a good resolution of our enforcement action, allowing the offender to put things right and help to improve our environment.
“This payment of £23,640 will do just that by supporting the work of the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.”
The EA said no environmental harm had been identified from the spreading carried out by the company.