An overzealous council was given short shrift by the court recently when it sought to make a farmer who moved rubbish deposited illegally, and which blocked his access to one of his fields, responsible for illegal dumping.
When he tried to access the field to spray his crop and found the road blocked, the farmer informed the council of the illegal dumping and requested that it be cleared up. In the meantime, he instructed one of his employees to move the rubbish to the side of the road so that he could gain access to the field.
The council then sought to make him responsible for the rubbish, arguing that because he had control over it and had moved it, he was responsible for the illegal ‘deposit’ of waste, a breach of the law under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
The magistrates dismissed the council’s claim and, on appeal, so did the divisional court.
Most people would be surprised that this case was ever taken forward at all, let alone appealed. It shows how risky it can be to assume that a council will behave in what seems a reasonable manner in some instances.
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