Environment Agency | Oliver “Luke” Kirkbride has pleaded guilty to multiple offences relating to the illegal operation of waste sites on the Lune Industrial Estate in Lancaster.
Kirkbride appeared at Preston Crown Court and was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and 200 hours unpaid work. He was also banned from being a company director for five years.
An investigation by the Environment Agency revealed that thousands of tonnes of combustible waste was stored in breach of permit conditions, with operations continuing even after a suspension notice was issued.
The abandoned waste led to a major fire in December 2023, which caused significant disruption to neighbouring businesses and left firefighting and clean-up costs of over £2 million.
Large quantities of combustible waste were stored far in excess of the 500-tonne, seven-day limit set in the site’s environmental permit.
In February 2022, the Environment Agency suspended the site’s permit because of the significant fire risk, but waste imports continued until April 2022, and then under a second company until October 2022.
The site’s permit was revoked by the Environment Agency in November 2022.
Between September 2021 and October 2022, Kirkbride, as a company director, was found to have deliberately breached environmental permit limits, operated unpermitted waste sites, repeatedly failed to comply with enforcement notices and deposited waste without the necessary authorisations.
Further offences involve waste storage breaches at Unit C4 and the illegal use of Unit C3, which had no permit in place.
