Pair found guilty of flytipping at caravan park

18/12/

TWO people paid to remove waste by a resident dumped it on land in Herefordshire, a court heard.

Herefordshire Council has won an enforcement case against Cornelius Biddle and Harriett Thompson who have been found guilty of flytipping in Kington.

Earlier this month, Hereford Magistrates’ Court heard how in June 2021 a council-owned travellers’ site in Pembridge known as Turnpike, near Leominster, had become empty of all residents in preparation for a planned refurbishment. The empty site was then plagued with flytipping over the course of the next eight weeks. The council’s community protection team officers attended the site two months later to search through the debris and in one area found evidence which led the investigation to a resident in Kington.

Officers discovered that the person had paid £40 to Cornelius Biddle and Harriett Thompson, both of Hill View, Leominster, to take away household waste to dispose of at the tip. The court further heard that the couple had decided to keep some of the waste to reuse but had left some black bags of the collected waste at the empty site in

Pembridge, which they had travelled to under the belief that family members were still residing there.

Biddle and Thompson both pleaded guilty to flytipping and were each fined £200, as well as ordered to pay court costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £34.

Marc Willimont, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Public Protection, said: “Unlawful waste disposal and flytipping costs council taxpayers tens of thousands each year. The council has a dedicated team of officers who work to ensure that anyone found flytipping waste will be prosecuted.”