Firm is fined for dumping rubbish

A property firm has been fined for illegally dumping rubbish on Teesside.

SW Properties (NE) Ltd, of Yarm Road, Stockton, which redevelops properties for rental, was caught when letters with its address were found in rubbish.

It pleaded guilty to three offences under the Environmental Protection Act and was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,754 costs by Teesside magistrates.

The firm said most of the waste, including wallpaper scrapings, was owned by previous occupants.

Monday's hearing heard how Stockton Council officers discovered the dumped rubbish at two locations at the back of Outram Street and Koppers Road, Port Clarence, in May and June of 2007.

Unsightly grime

Among the rubbish were black bags and boxes filled with paper, wallpaper scrapings and building materials.

SW Developments said it was a small operation and had been let down by a rubbish disposal firm which it had stopped using, the hearing heard.

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council's cabinet member for housing and community safety, said: "We will do everything in our power to catch fly-tippers and prosecute them wherever possible.

"Fly-tipping not only creates unsightly grime on our streets, it costs the council, and therefore the borough's residents, a great deal of time and money to remove it and investigate offences."