Newtownabbey firm fined for illegal dumping of waste

Ace Bates Skip Hire Limited, and former company directors Thomas and Gary Bates, admitted a total of four charges linked to unlawfully depositing waste and keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution.

The charges relate to waste being deposited on land at Ballyutoag Road in Belfast which was owned by Thomas and Gary Bates, and also on land belonging to a neighbour. The offending occurred between May 2007 and August 2011.

The court heard a planning application was granted to Ace Bates Skip Hire Limited in 2003 for in-filling of land at Ballyutoag Road on part of the site.

During the period of offending, material was brought on to the site and placed in an area adjacent to the exempt area, as well as on land owned by the neighbour.

These areas, the court heard, were not covered by the exemption and were therefore not licensed or authorised to receive waste.