THE owner of a waste tip which caught fire and burnt for two months has been charged with six offences under the Environmental Protection Act.
Lee Averies was the owner of Averies Recycling before it went into liquidation.
The company was based at Marshgate, a site owned by his brother, David.
Now, the pair have been summonsed following an investigation by the Environment Agency.
They have been hit with a number of charges, including storing too much material at Marshgate, near Greenbridge, and failing to deal with the waste in a safe manner.
The site, which has been left virtually untouched since last summer, required a huge multi-agency response to put it out.
The Environment Agency had already been investigating the company for months leading up to the fire and some of the charges date back to 2013.
A statement from the EA said: “The Environment Agency has instituted criminal proceedings against David Averies and Lee Averies at Swindon Magistrates Court, the first hearing of which is on the June 22.
“The court proceedings include allegations that they; 1. Kept, treated or disposed of controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human life.
“2. Two offences of breaching the conditions of the environmental permit in relation to the volume of waste stored on site and having inadequate security to prevent unauthorised access to the site.
“The offences cover the period November 14, 2013, to March 2, 2015.”
A spokesman for Swindon Magistrates’ Court said the pair were facing six charges each.
The fire first began in July and burnt for eight weeks straight, with neighbouring houses and businesses being affected by the smoke.
For much of the time fire fighters could not access all of the waste so some needed to be removed.
A row broke out after it was proposed that some of the burnt rubbish be moved to the former Groundwell park-and-ride site. In the end, it was taken by a local company but the cost to the tax-payer has been estimated at up to £500,000.
Swindon Borough Council has launched an inquiry to find out what can be done to prevent any similar situation from occurring in the future.
Members of the public will be given an opportunity to contribute to the investigation to say how the fire impacted them at an event next Tuesday at the Civic Chamber starting at 6pm.
Averies Recycling went into administration at the end of last year and was put into liquidation in March, a process which is still ongoing.
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