Companies pay out to charity after slurry incidents

Three Dorset farm companies have paid a total of £33,500 to environment charities after an investigation found they failed to store slurry correctly.

The Environment Agency said in two of the three cases, pollution entered watercourses, while in the other slurry stores were installed without the required permit.

The three businesses affected will pay money as part of an enforcement undertaking, which the agency can use as an alternative sanction to prosecution or a financial penalty.

Senior environment officer David Womack said: "Slurry regulations protect people and the environment. It is essential everyone follows the rules."

Drummers Farming Limited, based near Sherborne, gave £10,000 to the Dorset Wildlife Trust, which will be used for the Winfrith and Tadnoll Wetland Restoration Project.

In April 2024, slurry from its lagoon entered the Leigh Tributary of the Beer Hackett Stream, also known as the River Wriggle. Further investigation found the impact could be found more than a mile downstream.

Crutchley Farms Partnership, based near Bridport, gave £7,500 to the Dorset Wildlife Trust for a trees and wetland project after pollution in Mangerton Brook was traced back to it in 2023.

Slurry entered the stream after a pump on a concrete tank's overflow pipe failed. Waste was found more than 300 metres downstream from its Marsh Farm base.

Crockway Farms Ltd, an intensive pig farm in Dorchester, failed to obtain an environmental permit before it installed two new slurry stores.

It gave £16,000 to the Farm and Wildlife Advisory Group South West, which works to reduce farm run-off and flood risk in catchments.

"If a farmer is concerned about their slurry storage or environmental compliance, get in touch with us. We are ready to lend support and advice," Womack added.

"We'd rather be approached earlier rather than later, after an environmental incident has happened."