Environment Agency - East Riding of Yorkshire Council fined �18,000 for watercourse pollution: EAST Riding of Yorkshire Council has been fined £18,000 after oil from a Withernsea school’s heating system leaked into a nearby watercourse.
At a hearing at York Magistrates’ Court today (Thursday 20 September), the Council admitted a charge of causing polluting matter to enter inland fresh waters, in contravention of Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council was also ordered to pay £3,939.02 in costs, plus a victim surcharge of £15.
The case was brought to court by the Environment Agency, who were alerted to the oil leak in January 2011. Craig Burman, prosecuting on behalf of the Agency, told the Court that on 17 January 2011 a strong odour of fuel oil was detected by Withernsea High School, Hull Road, Withernsea, following an oil delivery. The following day an oily discharge was observed from an outflow pipe into a watercourse near the school.
The oil dispersed through drains to the nearby watercourse, which feeds Winestead Drain, a wildlife haven which itself feeds into the Humber Estuary. A rainbow discolouration could be seen across a 15-kilometre stretch of the watercourse, with a particularly heavy accumulation of red oil around a pumping station on Winestead Drain.
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