{"id":954,"date":"2026-04-22T09:53:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/?p=954"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:55:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:55:21","slug":"company-ordered-to-clear-illegal-waste-site-and-pay-20000-in-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/company-ordered-to-clear-illegal-waste-site-and-pay-20000-in-fines\/","title":{"rendered":"Company ordered to clear illegal waste site and pay \u00a320,000 in fines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/div>\n

\"Illegal<\/h4>\n

A company director has been ordered to clear an illegal waste site in Sheffield and pay more than \u00a320,000 in fines and costs.<\/h4>\n

Austin Fitzgerald, 65, director of Concept Investments Limited in Sheffield, must clear an illegal waste site on land owned by his company by 18 May.<\/p>\n

Both the company and Fitzgerald pleaded guilty at South Yorkshire Magistrates\u2019 Court and were ordered to pay over \u00a320,000 in fines and costs. Fitzgerald was also sentenced to a 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work.<\/p>\n

\"Environment
Mixed waste, including fridges and other electrical items, as well as inert waste such as soil and stones, was found at the site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Environment Agency first visited the site in July 2022 and found a large amount of mixed waste, including fridges and other electrical items, as well as inert waste such as soil and stones.<\/p>\n

In a follow-up visit later in the year, the Environment Agency told the occupier he could not store waste without a permit and gave him six weeks to clear it.<\/p>\n

In January 2023, officers inspected the site and found none of the waste had been cleared, and in fact, new waste had accumulated.<\/p>\n

The Agency subsequently served a formal notice requiring the site to be cleared by 5 June 2023, which was not complied with.<\/p>\n

In late 2024 and early 2025, the Agency received complaints about waste burning, and the operator was advised by Sheffield City Council to cease the activity, which was impacting local residents.<\/p>\n

Another man charged in relation to the same site has pleaded not guilty to operating a regulated facility without an environmental permit, with a trial set to begin on 11 February 2027.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the sentencing, Ben Hocking, Area Environment Manager for the Environment Agency in Yorkshire, said: \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Fitzgerald and the company were well aware of what was happening on that land, and they repeatedly ignored our requests to stop operations and clear the waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWaste criminals damage our communities, and we are cracking down across the sector on those flouting the regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should serve as a warning for landowners that if you allow illegal waste activity to take place on your land, we will take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company was fined \u00a38,000, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of \u00a32,000 and costs of \u00a35,442, while Fitzgerald was ordered to pay costs of \u00a35442 and a victim surcharge of \u00a3114.<\/p>\n

The post Company ordered to clear illegal waste site and pay \u00a320,000 in fines<\/a> appeared first on Circular Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 A company director has been ordered to clear an illegal waste site in Sheffield […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":955,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businesssinglesmeet.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}