STORY
A skip hire company director has been given a suspended prison sentence after repeatedly failing to comply with Environment Agency warnings over waste stored at a site near Braintree in Essex.
Roy Brett, director of RJ Brett Contracts Ltd, was sentenced at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation activities and pay a £154 victim surcharge.
The Environment Agency began investigating the site at Lanham Green Road in Cressing in July 2024. Officers found more than a dozen skips filled with waste and gave Brett three months to remove it, but the agency said the situation had not improved when officers returned after the deadline.
By early 2025, almost 50 skips were being stored at the yard, some stacked on top of others. Officers also found piles of wood and soil, while waste including metal, textiles and builders’ rubbish was being stored on the ground.
The Environment Agency said the site did not have sealed drainage and that the amount of material being stored created environmental and fire risks. Essex Fire and Rescue Service had also raised concerns and instructed Brett to tidy the site and prevent waste presenting a fire risk from being brought onto the premises.
Brett admitted offences relating to the operation of the waste facility without an environmental permit, failure to comply with a notice requiring waste to be removed and keeping waste in a way likely to cause pollution or harm to human health.
RJ Brett Contracts Ltd was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay a £1,200 victim surcharge for similar offences. Brett has also been ordered to remove the remaining waste from the site and could face imprisonment if he commits further offences or fails to clear the site by November.
The Environment Agency said Brett had received repeated warnings both in writing and in person. Its enforcement team said operating without the required permit had allowed the business to avoid fees and conditions intended to protect the environment.