Housing company Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd has been fined £300,000 after a blocked sewer led to raw sewage – including what was thought to be blood from an abattoir – spilling into a stream at Sedgefield.
Following an investigation by the Environment Agency (EA), the company pleaded guilty in July 2023 to polluting a tributary of Shotton Beck with sewage while building new homes at Eden Gardens, Sedgefield, in September 2019.
The company was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday 9 July, after a delay caused by a trial on a related contested charge for which the company was acquitted last month. It was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge amounting to £11,042.10.
Incident “was preventable“
The court heard construction debris had fallen through a manhole, blocking the sewer and causing it to burst, which sent sewage spilling into a stream and on to the construction site – including what was thought to be effluent from a nearby abattoir.
The new manhole chambers had been both poorly built and not fenced off, leading to construction site traffic causing damage.
The company had already been advised about pollution prevention regarding debris in the sewage system after an earlier incident in June 2019.
“We will act”
Rachael Caldwell, area environment manager at the EA, said: “We expect companies to take their environmental responsibilities seriously and ensure they take steps to prevent pollution. This incident was preventable and caused real harm to the stream and the life it supports. Companies must stop pollution before it happens, and when they fail, we will act. We are determined to hold those who pollute our waterways to account and will not hesitate to take enforcement action.”
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Site inspections
The court heard that as part of the new housing development, Taylor Wimpey had applied to Northumbrian Water to construct some new sewers and divert an existing one, which included constructing several new manhole chambers. By mid-2019 the diverted sewer was carrying sewage through the site despite none of the legal agreements with Northumbrian Water being finalised.
On 4 June 2019, Northumbrian Water attended the site because a bung – which is placed to close off a section of disused sewer – had been dislodged and become stuck further down the line, and as a result sewage effluent flooded out of a manhole cover and on to the construction site.
The company was later advised by the EA and Northumbrian Water about pollution prevention and good working practices, including the need to stop debris entering the sewer network.
However, on 17 September 2019, an EA officer carrying out a routine inspection near Sedgefield saw sewage fungus on the stream bed of Shotton Beck.
He investigated the nearby sewage treatment works but found no issues. He then saw sewage upstream of the sewage works and the source was quickly identified as the nearby Taylor Wimpey housing development.
On arrival at site, officers saw sewage in the stream, which was discharging from the sewer just outside the site boundary. Photographs taken that afternoon showed the stream turning a red colour – suspected to be effluent from a local abattoir which would normally be treated at the sewage works – and sewage fungus strewn at least 1.5km downstream.
The discovery of sewage fungus to that extent meant that the sewer burst is highly likely to have happened days earlier.
During subsequent meetings and when initially responding during the EA’s investigation, Taylor Wimpey had denied responsibility for both incidents but once the case reached court the company immediately pleaded guilty to the sewage discharge.
*The source of this report is a press release from the EA.
