news release
    17th Feb 2005

'GREEN' JUDGES LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO KICKSTART ENVIRONMENTAL COURTS.

Activists from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) this morning launched a campaign that called for Environmental Courts to be used across the UK to deal more effectively with environmental crimes.

A group of ‘green judges’ wearing green robes, green face paint and gavels and prepared to put a true price on the cost of pollution launched the campaign outside the Camborne Magistrates Court. Local water company South West Water were due in the Magistrates Court to face charges relating to a breach of their discharge consent for Tregaseal (St Just) Sewage Treatment Works though they did not appear calling for a late adjournment instead.

SAS would like to see the UK adopt a system similar to one already in practice in Sweden where Regional Environmental Courts put legally qualified judges together with environmental advisors to adjudicate over cases.

The current system at home is failing, with penalties far too low to act as a deterrent for big business environmental offenders, particularly those who are branded repeat offenders such as water companies. Compounded by a lack of experience by magistrates and judges in quantifying environmental offences many water companies have now taken to appealing against their original fines with great success. Last year, South West Water obtained the largest reduction, after it was fined £15,000 for polluting the sea at the North Cliffs. The incident followed a problem with the Kieve Mills sewage treatment works, which had left a plume of sewage solids visible from the coast path. After appeal the fine was reduced to just £3000. Successful appeals such as these are setting precedents, which are likely to limit the size of fines in future.

By the end of 2004 South West Water had been in the dock 13 times (3 offences more than in 2003) for pollution offences. It’s a statistic that is mirrored across the water industry with an overall increase of 26%. The average fine was a meagre £4640 for South West Water.

Thames Water’s Managing Director John Sexton recently agreed that the £70,000 Thames was fined in 2003 for pollution incidents was “not a deterrent” given his company’s £1 billion turnover. For South West Water fines of £60,400 in 2004 compared with a turnover of £270 million is nothing more than just peanuts to a company of this size.

RICHARD HARDY, SAS Campaigns Director says: “A new legal framework to ensure repeat environmental offenders ‘improve their environmental performance rather than their fine reductions’ is desperately needed. ‘Green’ or Environmental Courts would be a great addition to the UK legal system and are already operating successfully within the EU”.

For further information please contact Richard Hardy on Tel: 0845 4583001 or Mobile: 07711 767548.

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