A Cornish farmer has been ordered to pay over out over £340,000 after he dumped waste on a wildlife haven and badger sett.
William Salmon, 62, pleaded guilty to two charges involving depositing waste on land he owned in Trerice near Newquay.
He was ordered to pay £21,500 in conviction costs, a £72,000 confiscation order and around £250,000 in unpaid landfill tax, all to be paid within three months.
A wildlife haven and badger sett in an old quarry were damaged when Mr Salmon, of Trevemper Farm, Trevemper, dumped waste and excavation waste on the site.
In the case brought by the Environment Agency, the court heard the farmer had created a track across farmland to gain access to a disused quarry.
The quarry had become overgrown over decades and had been reclaimed by wildlife, including badgers that had developed a long-established sett at the site.
Over several months, Mr Salmon was responsible for infilling the quarry with construction waste and destroying the habitat that had developed there.
In the quarry, investigators found construction and demolition waste that Salmon was paid to dispose of, including burnt rubbish
Mr Salmon had registered a U1 exemption – this allows the use of specific types and quantities of clean waste materials in construction.
Waste transfer notes supplied by Mr Salmon indicated he had imported around 1,200t of waste brick and concrete from a site in Newquay to construct a track.
He told officers that the waste they had seen tipped into the quarry had come from his own farm and that he thought he did not need any permissions or paperwork for this.
However, agency investigators identified that construction and demolition waste had been imported from a housing development site for disposal at the site and that Mr Salmon had been paid to take it away. Some waste had also been burnt there.
Judge Carr told the farmer: “You took a deliberate decision to use a disused quarry to deposit waste in breach of the environmental permitting regime.
“When you were spoken to by the Environment Agency about the waste, you lied. The Environment Agency’s investigation into your finances opened a Pandora’s box.
“Once you have misled a government agency, do not be surprised if they look under every rock. You have learned an extremely expensive lesson by breaching the environmental regime.”
