A Morpeth man was fined £1,500 yesterday (Tuesday 20th November 2007) at Tynedale Magistrates Court in Hexham after pleading guilty to polluting a watercourse at Riding Farm near Bellingham.
John Goodfellow (63) of Longwitton Farm, Longwitton near Morpeth was also ordered to pay costs of £1,800 to the Environment Agency which brought the case.
Paul Harley, prosecuting, told the court that on the 13th February 2007, the Environment Agency was notified that a small watercourse at Bellingham appeared to be severely polluted with sewage fungus.
When inspecting the site, an Environment Agency officer observed there to be a significant quantity of sewage fungus. She noted that the pollution appeared to be a slurry-like material passing over marshy ground at Ridings Farm which was coming from an external cattle pen into a surface water drain together with silage effluent overflowing into a purpose built drain. Dye testing confirmed that these were the sources of the contamination.
An ecologist’s report into the pollution indicated that it could have resulted in suffocation and death of more sensitive wildlife in the stream and that there had been severe pollution for around 1km.
Commenting after the case, Deborah Evans, environment officer at the Environment Agency said: “I am satisfied that we have been able to bring this matter to a successful prosecution. Farmers need to ensure that they have adequate facilities in place to ensure that silage and slurry is contained in accordance with the Code of Good Agricultural Practice.
