ONE of the developers behind Yate’s Ladden Garden Village estate has agreed to give more than £200,000 to environmental groups after admitting responsibility for polluting two streams.
A contractor working for BDW Trading, part of the Barratt Redrow group, polluted the Ladden Brook and Tanhouse stream (pictured above) over six days in July 2022, by jet washing silt from drains into the waterways.
The Environment Agency launched an investigation and found the silt had been dislodged during the cleaning and surveying of drainage on the development land and ended up in the two streams, which are tributaries of the River Frome.
The agency said BDW Trading acknowledged it bore responsibility for the pollution, and spent over £180,000 on clean-up work, staff training and establishing better practices on managing surface water.
Environment Agency spokesperson James Edees said: “An incident like this would have never happened with proper procedure in place.
“But BDW Trading’s response to cleaning up the mess and investment in preventing it from happening again means we can accept an enforcement undertaking on this occasion.
“This means environmental causes will get money to continue their good work and we can draw a line under this issue.”
BDW Trading has given a total of £201,500 to three environment-related organisations in the region.
Payments instead of prosecution
The Bristol and Avon Rivers Trust (BART) will receive £165,000 for the River Chew catchment fish recovery project, a community engagement project and eDNA fish monitoring.
Tortworth Forest Centre near Thornbury will receive £11,500 for a woodland well-being programme and tree planting.
Avon Wildlife Trust will receive £25,000 for the costs of a community ecologist.
BDW Trading has also paid the Environment Agency’s costs and now has a permit to ensure water discharges are properly regulated.
The payments are being made under an “enforcement undertaking”, which is a legally-binding alternative to a fine or prosecution proposed by a business where the Environment Agency believes that an environmental offence has happened.
Picture: Silt in the Tanhouse stream after the pollution incident. Photo courtesy of the Environment Agency