Former head of DRS Demolition prosecuted over failure to clean-up “eyesore” site.
UK demolition industry veteran David Shrigley will be spending this Christmas in prison following a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency. The founder and former head of DRS Demolition Nation – which folded in April 2015 – pleaded guilty for failing to clean-up a site that had been in dispute since his company collapsed amidst an acrimonious marriage split.
DemolitionNews understands that Shrigley has been sentenced to 40 days imprisonment having pleaded guilty to having failed to comply with a previous court order to clean-up the waste transfer facility at his company’s former headquarters.
In April 2016, David and Donna Shrigley were ordered to clean up the waste transfer station facility and the former DRS Demolition National headquarters at Domellick Manor, St Dennis, St Austell in Cornwall. In a case brought by the Environment Agency, David Shrigley was also ordered to pay a total of £6,052 in fines and costs, and Donna Shrigley £4,234 after pleading guilty to 3 offences.
Magistrates decided that David Shrigley had been reckless in his offending and Donna Shrigley had been negligent.
It was admitted that between 29 April 2014 and 11 May 2015, the pair breached an environmental permit by depolluting vehicles, illegally storing and handling waste, including plasterboard, wood, green waste and trommel fines. They also admitted failing to comply with an enforcement notice on 22 April 2015, which required the reduction of waste on the site by 500 tonnes, and on 11 December 2015, knowingly permitting the carrying on of a waste operation without the benefit of an environmental permit.
Following permit breaches in April and August 2014, the company had agreed to submit to a voluntary improvement plan. But it failed to comply with this, as well as an enforcement notice to reduce the waste destined for landfill, and by April 2015 the quantity had increased. They also failed to comply with a further notice to remove all waste by 9 December 2015.
In April 2016, the magistrates issued a Regulation 44 order which ordered the former owners to clear the site within 18 months. Failure to comply with this notice would be considered contempt of court.
