Waste company loses its licence after string of environmental breaches

A waste treatment company has had its licence revoked for a string of environmental breaches.
Noble Waste Management, WakefieldNoble Waste Management, Wakefield
Noble Waste Management, Wakefield

Noble Waste Treatment Ltd (NWT) has been given three months to remove waste from its Thornes Lane Wharf site after facing action from the Environment Agency.

The agency served notice to revoke the company’s licence last October, but the company lodged an appeal.

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Now the Planning Inspectorate has ruled in the Environment Agency’s favour, giving the company until September 22 to remove the waste.

An Environment Agency (EA) spokesman said: “The EA has revoked Noble Waste Treatment’s permit in order to protect the environment.

“The company has a history of failing to comply with the conditions of its permit, and it has failed to respond to advice, guidance and enforcement action taken against it.

“It is vital that waste companies comply with the law so that communities and the environment are not put at risk.

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“We work with operators to help them meet their obligations, but where significant or repeated breaches occur, we will take appropriate action to protect the environment.”

In a written judgement the Planning Inspectorate said progress had been made in removing waste from the site since January 2015.

The appeal was also told that “large volumes” of waste were being stored at the site when NWT took it over in 2012.

But it dismissed appeals by the company against the notice to revoke its licence and against an earlier enforcement notice from June last year.

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In a statement NWT said: “The staff and directors of NWT Ltd are shocked and saddened by the decision of the Environment Agency to revoke the environmental permit for the transfer yard it operates.”

The company said the site was not compliant with the permit when NWT took it over.

The statement said: “NWT Ltd will continue to remediate the site until the permit revocation date and will continue to seek answers from the EA regarding why the site was permitted to operate in a non-compliant manner leading up to the transfer of the permit to NWT Ltd.”

A separate company, Noble Skip Services Ltd, was not directly affected by the action to revoke NWT’s licence, the EA said.

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