17/01/2005 - The owners
of Cricket St Thomas wildlife park near Chard,
Somerset were today ordered to pay £5,725
in fines and costs for discharging sub-standard
effluent into a stream. The case was brought
by the Environment Agency.
A court heard that during 2003 a sewage treatment
plant at the wildlife complex and hotel had
consistently failed to comply with its discharge
consent in relation to the levels of ammonia.
The Environment Agency asked the site operators,
Warner Holidays, to look at ways of upgrading
its treatment plant to reduce further failures.
Warner Holidays claimed the continuing non-compliance
was caused by mechanical issues and an outbreak
of legionnaires disease at the site. This
had resulted in restrictions being imposed
by local environmental health officers and
the use of chlorine to disinfect.
Given these difficulties, the Environment
Agency allowed Warner Holidays three months
‘grace’ to get its sewage treatment works
fully operational again. But problems continued
and on August 18, 2003 the Environment Agency
received a complaint from a member of the
public.
An effluent sample taken at the time was
found to be of poor quality with the level
of ammonia 12 times above the permitted limit.
Warner Holidays was warned it could face prosecution
unless standards improved.
At the beginning of 2004 the Environment
Agency commenced a programme of formal effluent
sampling at Cricket St Thomas. The plant continued
to fail on five occasions from January to
May. One of these failures was five times
the consented level. On April 6, 2004, following
further compliance failures, the Agency served
an enforcement notice on Warner Holidays.
"It is important Warner Holidays recognises
its responsibilities in respect of the control
and maintenance of the sewage treatment works
at Cricket St Thomas, especially given the
scale of the operation at the site. The Agency
was disappointed at the delayed response to
its requests. However, the company has now
established a good working relationship with
the Agency and there are no ongoing issues,’
said Andrew Sweetapple for the Environment
Agency.
Warner Holidays were today fined £4,000
and ordered to pay £1,725 by Yeovil
Magistrates after pleading guilty to four
offences under the Water Resources Act 1991
of contravening a discharge consent in respect
of Ammonia at Cricket St Thomas.
