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A Somerset cheese making company has been ordered to pay almost £25,000 after being found guilty of causing farm pollution offences for a third time.

Alvis Brothers of Lye Cross Farm, Redhill, Bristol, admitted causing the discharge of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter in a case brought by the Environment Agency (EA). It was ordered to pay fines of £20,000 and costs totalling £3,520.20, plus a victim surcharge of £190.  

The company supplies a number of large supermarket chains, including Waitrose, Ocado and Asda, and exports to more than 40 countries.

It comes just a week after the Minister for Exports, Lord Offord, officially launched the Government's new dairy export programme at the farm, to help grow agri-food exports in overseas markets.

During last week's hearing, Bristol magistrates were told the company had faced similar offences in 2013 and 2019. District Judge Matthews said the matter should have been reported to the EA but it was the case that Alvis Brothers just hoped they could ‘get away with pollution incidents'.

See also: Green group wins further probe on EA's river pollution failings

She ordered farm operations director Nick Green to tell the court under oath how many times they had self-reported a pollution incident, to which he replied "Zero."

The court heard that in September 2020, following reports of white discolouration in a watercourse, EA officers went to a tributary of the Congresbury Yeo, downstream of Lye Cross Farm. The watercourse was milky both in colour and odour.

The source of the pollution was found to have been caused by a blockage in a pipe that took wash water from their cheese production facility to their onsite treatment works which had subsequently overflowed to the watercourse. The blockage had consisted of a plastic bag containing gloves and other plastic.

In a later interview under caution, Mr Green, on behalf of the company, admitted the offence and said the company was sorry and pointed out the measures taken after they became aware of the pollution spill to mitigate the effect on the watercourse.

Blockage

The Environment Agency maintained in court that the materials that caused the blockage were everyday items clearly inappropriately disposed of, there appeared to be no form of alarm to notify of the blockage to the drainage system or of a spill and while the pollution was clearly visible it was not reported to the Environment Agency.

The judge said that in view of the company's history of offending, she was not surprised that their offer to the Environment Agency of paying an Environmental Undertaking sum - an alternative penalty to a criminal conviction - was rejected.

Following the hearing, senior environment officer Jo Masters said: "This is the third time Alvis Brothers has been prosecuted since 2015 for polluting the watercourse.

"We strive to work with farmers to prevent pollution through advice and guidance, but we are clear we will take action where offending is repeated and offenders aren't willing to change their practices to ensure environmental protection."