Farmer fined after taking fly-tipping into his own hands

A farmer has been fined after taking fly-tipping into his own hands after a huge mountain of rubbish was dumped on his land. 

Kieran Price, 65, admitted burning waste, which had been dumped on his farmland, out of frustration. 

The land, on Mill Road in Ynysybwl, Wales, is part of a 'ferocious' fly-tipping hotspot, a sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court heard on Monday. 

Chris Evans, prosecuting, told the court how Natural Resources Wales (NRW) made numerous visits to Price's farm between early 2022 and September 2024 following a number of reports of waste at the site. 

During this time he said Price, 65, failed to comply with several notices served by the environmental organisation, while it appeared that more litter continued to be dumped.

He said on February 1, 2022 a senior officer from NRW made a visit to the site and found a 'large amount of general construction and demolition waste tipped down a bank' in Price's lower field - which is part of a protected woodland. 

Following an investigation she established waste had been dumped there since 2019 and appeared to increase in volume each year.

In a second field, described as the upper field, Mr Evans said many tyre bales were found to have been 'deposited haphazardly'. 

Between the initial visit and summer 2022, NRW issued Price with several notices to provide them with information to determine whether an offence had been committed. 

However, Price 'did not respond to any of the served notices other than that he had received them'.

In June it was heard how NRW asked for compliance within 14 days. During this time a family member contacted NRW to say Price was in hospital and would respond as soon as he left. However, NRW did not hear from him, Mr Evans said.

NRW undertook a new site visit in January 2023 where waste was observed in the lower field including 'a mattress, fridges and wood waste'. 

It was noted how some of the waste was partially buried with it 'apparent that regular burning had taken place'. The tyres also remained in the upper field, with NRW calculating '148 bales spread out and 30 bales partially buried'.

A further visit made in February found that no waste had been removed. Items including furniture, food cans and soft furnishings were also observed. Similar findings were recorded during a visit in June 2023.

A year later in June 2024 it was heard how Price's fields had been secured with padlocks and chains in an attempt to deter fly-tippers, however waste and tyres were still present. 

Mr Evans added: 'Liquid in canisters which appeared to contain fuel were amongst the waste.' There was additional evidence to suggest more waste had been added since previous visits.

On September 13 NRW said a further visit revealed that the tyre bales had been removed. Removal documents accepted by the crown revealed 53 tonnes of tyre bales were removed in total. 

Mr Evans added: 'It appeared that most of the waste [in the lower field] that had been viewed previously was still there - and more.'

Price pleaded guilty to two environmental offences which include depositing waste without an environmental permit for controlled waste on his land (tyres) and treating controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution or harm to human health (burning). 

Hwyel Davies, defending Price, said his client admits burning some of the fly-tipped waste on his land 'out of frustration'. 

He said Price has shown much remorse, adding: 'He has shown great remorse for his actions. He is emotional and embarrassed at the current state of his life. He was once a proud and successful businessman.

Mr Davies explained how the farm is no longer a working farm and suffered a huge financial hit during the coronavirus pandemic. 

He said there were long periods of time where Price was unable to live at his property, which made it harder for him to prevent fly-tipping. 

Mr Davies said: 'There was a long period of time when he was not able to take steps to prevent waste being deposited and left with the financial cost of removing the waste when not in position to do so.'

He said it was good progress that Price had not only secured his fields, but had also made 'lawful efforts' to remove 53 tonnes of waste from the site already - despite his financial difficulties. 

He added: 'Since he secured his land fly-tippers have dumped on land [nearby]. It shows the ferocious nature of fly-tipping in the area.'

Regarding the most recent visit on September 13, Mr Davies said the fly-tipped waste only appeared to have increased because Mr Price has made attempts to sort it ahead of its removal. 

However, he told the court that Price rejected that the volume of rubbish had actually grown.

Sentencing Price, Judge Carl Harrison took into consideration Price's financial situation and the state of his health. He also noted that Price has no relevant previous convictions.

Price was sentenced to a community order for the lead offence, depositing waste without an environmental permit. 

This will entail carrying out 10 hours of supervised activity over 12 months. For the second offence, Price will serve the same sentence concurrently.

In addition he will need to pay a band C fine of £281 within six months, as well as a £114 victim surcharge and £160 prosecution fee - each to be paid within the next 12 months.