STORY
Three Dorset farming businesses have agreed to pay a total of £33,500 to environmental charities after Environment Agency investigations found failures in the handling and storage of slurry.
Crockway Farms Ltd, Drummers Farming Limited and Crutchley Farms Partnership accepted enforcement undertakings after breaches of environmental rules intended to protect rivers and streams. In two cases, slurry entered nearby watercourses, while in the third a farm installed new slurry stores without first securing the required environmental permit.
Drummers Farming Limited, based near Sherborne, caused two slurry pollution incidents in spring 2024. In April, slurry from a lagoon entered the Leigh Tributary of the Beer Hackett Stream, also known as the River Wriggle. The Environment Agency said alarms were activated, but because the incident happened during the night, immediate action was not taken. A second incident led to water samples showing ammonia levels that could be lethal to aquatic life, with the effects identifiable more than 1.2 miles downstream.
Crutchley Farms Partnership was investigated after pollution was found in the Mangerton Brook near Bridport in October 2023. Officers traced the source to Marsh Farm, where slurry had entered the stream from a concrete tank overflow pipe after a pump failed. The watercourse had an unpleasant odour and sewage fungus, with organic waste identifiable more than 300 metres downstream and significant ecological deterioration over 800 metres.
Crockway Farms Ltd, an intensive pig farm, failed to obtain an environmental permit before installing two new slurry stores. The Environment Agency said strict permits are required for pig farms because officials must consider ammonia emissions and the risk of effluent discharges.