Cornish hauliers convicted of tipping in beauty spots
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By Roger Brown
A CORNISH HAULAGE boss has been handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, for illegally tipping asbestos in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the holiday hotspot.
In an Environment Agency (EA) prosecution at Truro Crown Court, Michael Leah, director of Penzance-based Michael Leah Ltd – which went into liquidation in December 2010 – was ordered to pay £50,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, plus £4,000 costs.
During 2007 and 2008, Leah had illegally dumped waste, including asbestos, at three sites, including two farms and a residential property in St Ives.
The sites included Boswens Farm, Newbridge, which lies in an oficial Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on a stretch of heritage coastline, where a landowner asked Leah to provide hardcore aggregates.
Leah’s site manager, Mark Outram, was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid community work and pay £3,000 costs.
The court was also told how about 9,000 tonnes of construction and demolition waste were dumped at Trenoweth Farm near Gweek over a six-month period in 2007 and 2008. Leah said he had deposited only three lorry loads of subsoil at Trenoweth Farm, but was unable to verify this by supplying the relevant waste transfer notes.
Leah was not the only haulier to plead guilty to illegally disposing of controlled waste at Trenoworth Farm.
Five Cornish hauliers – Trurobased Broad and Sons and Maen Karne Aggregates, Cambornebased St Pirrans Trucks, Redruthbased Harts Haulage, and Praze-based Michael Mudge had earlier pleaded guilty and were also ined.
Each company was ordered to pay £2,000 costs, while ines ranged from £1,600 to £2,500.