Court Of Appeal Judgment Shows Environmental Offences Will Be Taken Seriously By The Courts

• Published date: 08 June 2021
• Law Firm: Walker Morris
• Author: Ms Alison Ogley and David Monteith

A Court of Appeal judgment highlights the issues which arise when sentencing environmental offences, and shows that environmental offending will be taken seriously by the Courts.

R v Lawrence concerned convictions for a number of offences contained in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 relating to two fires at the premises of a skip hire company outside Kidderminster. The site was next to a canal and adjacent to a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The defendant was the operations director of the family business which operated the site.

As a result of financial difficulties, the quantity of unsaleable waste kept on the site built up and, in December 2012, a fire broke out which took nine days to extinguish. The water required to fight the fire mixed with rain water and contaminants from the waste; the Environment Agency was able to prevent this entering the SSSI but polluted water was diverted into the canal.

A second fire broke out in June 2013 and continued to burn for more than...