A Dorset farmer has been ordered to pay over £6,500 after an Environment Agency officer discovered slurry in a stream during a 'dog walk'.
Mark Pearson, owner of Hanford Farm, appeared before Taunton Magistrates Court after admitting an offence of causing pollution to enter a freshwater stream.
In a case brought by the Environment Agency, the court heard that an agency officer out walking his dog in January 2019 noticed what appeared to be slurry in a stream.
He traced the runoff to a field at Hanford Farm, near Blandford, and took photographs as evidence.
In a later interview, Mr Pearson, aged 64, admitted that slurry spreading at the farm had caused the pollution.
Magistrates were told there had been seven previous pollution incidents involving the farm since 2012.
Despite the need to have five months’ slurry storage facilities, there was only two months’ storage at the farm.
Mr Pearson agreed to an Enforcement Undertaking – an alternative penalty to formal court proceedings – and he paid a contribution to the National Trust of £2,000 as a result.
Yet, while the Environment Agency contacted him several times, no date was secured for the completion of a slurry lagoon, which was also a condition of the Enforcement Undertaking.
This led to the agency charging him with a criminal offence instead.
Chris Westcott, from the agency said: "Enforcement Undertakings provide an opportunity for polluters to pay for environmental projects as an alternative to court proceedings.
"Though Mr Pearson was offered the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction, he chose to ignore that, leading to this hearing."
