Two companies from West Sussex have been found guilty of illegally dumping waste at a golf club near Gatwick Airport, with the golf club owners complicit in the act.
A district judge labeled their actions as “reckless,” issuing fines that totaled £38,000.
An anonymous tip-off led the Environment Agency to uncover nearly 700 lorry-loads of waste unlawfully dumped at Rusper Golf Club in Newdigate, near Dorking.
Worthing-based Rusper Leisure Ltd permitted Crawley haulier Cook and Son Ltd and Bell and Sons Construction Ltd of Faygate to dump the waste, none of which had approval from the Environment Agency.
Rusper Leisure had obtained planning permission to raise part of an embankment on the driving range by 2 meters to catch stray golf balls, but the agreement with Mole Valley District Council allowed only clean soil to be used.
Excessive Waste Beyond Planning Permission
Environment Agency investigators discovered that the surface of the embankment contained glass, wood, plastic, tarmac, brick, concrete, and other materials. Similar waste was found scattered around the course and nearby areas.
Cook and Bell paid Rusper Leisure £100 per load for the waste dumped on and around the greens during the second half of 2018.
Illegal Waste Stockpiled
The investigation revealed that waste was also used to create more embankments and stockpiled near the woods at the edge of the golf course and in the club’s car park, with builders' waste mixed in with some soil.
Jamie Hamilton, the senior environmental crime officer leading the investigation for the Environment Agency, stated:
"Companies must ensure the Environment Agency authorizes any tipping of waste in advance. Cook and Son and Bell and Sons, both established operators, discarded the waste over 5 months without making any meaningful checks that the golf course could accept it."
Unpermitted Waste Disposal
When interviewed, Rusper Leisure’s company secretary, Sara Blunden, claimed she was unaware that the work required a permit from the Environment Agency, believing that planning permission from Mole Valley was sufficient to bring waste onto the golf course.
Duncan Bell, a director at Bell and Sons, told the Environment Agency he did not check if an environmental permit was necessary for the work, relying on the existing planning permission for raising the embankment. He also did not verify where his company’s lorries were dumping the waste.
Christopher Cook, of Cook and Son, admitted that his drivers dumped waste on the course and that he took no additional steps to confirm if the site had a permit from the Environment Agency, beyond asking Bell if the site was legal for that purpose.
It was not. The land had limited planning permission but no permit for waste disposal. Further issues were found in the documentation.
Inadequate Documentation
Waste transfer notes, which track where material is taken from and to, lacked crucial details such as descriptions of the waste, its placement on the course, and whether it was hazardous.
Prosecution and Fines
District judge Tessa Szagun fined Rusper Leisure Ltd £2,000 for running a waste operation at the golf club without an environmental permit, plus £3,000 in costs.
Cook and Son Ltd was fined £24,000 for dumping banned waste, with additional costs of £12,500. Bell and Sons Construction Ltd was fined £12,000, with costs of £8,000. All three companies incurred victim surcharge fees of £170.
Rusper Leisure Ltd was charged with breaching regulation 12(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 for not having an environment permit. Cook and Son Ltd and Bell and Sons Construction Ltd were charged with breaching section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 concerning the dumped waste.
No penalties were given to Cook and Bell companies for failing to provide written descriptions of the waste, or to Cook and Son for not preventing breaches of the law by Rusper Leisure Ltd.
The charges related to the period from June 1 to November 29, 2018. The companies were convicted at Brighton magistrates’ court on May 20, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
Rusper Golf Club, which was opened by Ryder Cup captain and Open champion Tony Jacklin in 1992, has since closed. Photo by gov.uk