A WIDNES company has been prosecuted and fined for polluting the environment by Warrington magistrates.
On May 7th, the court heard that on 13th January 2025 Environmental Health Officers from Halton Borough Council spotted plumes of dark smoke coming from a site on Ditton Road, Widnes.
The smoke was observed coming from S Evans and Sons Ltd and the matter was reported to the Council’s Legal Services department.
Both the company and one of the company’s directors, Mr Samuel Evans, were charged with offences under s.2 of the Clean Air Act 1993 which makes it an offence for dark smoke to be emitted from industrial or trade premises at any time.
Magistrates found both Mr Evans and the company guilty in their absence.
The company were fined £25,000 plus a £2000 victim surcharge and Mr Evans was fined £2,640 plus a £1056 victim surcharge. The Council were awarded full costs of £550.
Cllr Stef Nelson, the Council’s Executive Board Member for Environment and Urban Renewal said: “ In this case, Environmental Health Officers took swift action upon seeing dark smoke polluting the borough.
“The Council will not hesitate to take robust enforcement action against those who offend and demonstrate a flagrant disregard for the laws that are in place to protect the health and wellbeing of those living in the borough.
“We hope that this most recent case sends out a clear warning that this anti-social and criminal behaviour will not be tolerated anywhere in the borough of Halton.”