Roy Brett ignored repeated warnings about the number of skips and waste built up at his yard in Cressing through his company RJ Brett Contracts Ltd.
Brett of Winstree Road, Stanway wanted the Environment Agency to believe the operation was completely legitimate, but the 66-year-old didn’t have an environmental permit to manage the site.
After two-years, Brett and his business admitted breaches of environmental law between 2024 and 2026.
The Environment Agency’s case says Brett ignored written orders and face-to-face warnings to clear the compound at Lanham Green Lane.
Brett claimed he “didn’t do e-mails,” and “missed” the written instructions to remove the waste.
Investigators found Brett stored too much wood, metal, textiles and builders’ rubbish in relation to the size of his yard.
There was a lack of free space, with skips overflowing with more rubbish, including mattresses and soil.
Lesley Robertson, enforcement team leader for the Environment Agency in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, said: “Roy Brett is a director of three other skip-hire companies in Essex. It doesn’t seem plausible that someone with his years of experience in the waste industry misunderstood that he didn’t need an environmental permit or what low-risk activity was allowed for exemption from needing one.
“Brett and his company undercut rivals by avoiding permitting and subsistence fees. They also evaded permit conditions designed to protect the environment.
“I would urge anyone hiring a skip, or paying someone to remove waste, to check our online register to make sure the company or individual has valid permits from the Environment Agency.”
The Environment Agency told him the yard, which is located in green fields, should be undercover.
Essex Fire and Rescue Service became interested in the site, and told Brett to tidy up the yard, and make sure nothing that could start a fire was brought in.
Concerns about the business were first raised with the Environment Agency in the summer of 2024, and an officer was sent to investigate.
They found more than a dozen skips full of waste giving off a strong smell.
Brett was told he had three months to remove all of it.
Officers were back at the site in the October as the situation hadn’t improved.
Brett was then sent a cease-and-desist letter, warning the site had to be cleaned up, or he’d face prosecution.
By January 2025, the deadline for the waste to be gone, almost 50 skips filled the yard, with some stacked on top of each other.
Officers also saw a massive pile of wood and soil.
Brett had been allowed to undertake low-risk waste disposal that didn’t need a permit, known as exemptions, but the Environment Agency cancelled these when the scale of Brett’s offending took hold.
RJ Brett Contracts Ltd was charged with four offences:
- Operating the waste facility at Lanham Green Road in Cressing, without an environmental permit between 3 July 2024 and 31 January 2025;
- And between 1 February 2025 and 30 January 2026, both contrary to regulations 12 and 38 (1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales Regulations 2016;
- Failing to comply with a notice dated 28 November 2024, requiring the company to remove controlled waste from the site by 30 January 2025, contrary to sections 59ZB(2) and 59ZB(6) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990;
- And keeping controlled waste at the site in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution or harm to human health, contrary to section 33(1)(c) contrary to Section 33(1)(c) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Roy Brett was also charged with four offences:
- Contrary to regulations 12, 38(1)(a) and 41(1) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales Regulations 2016, knowing of or contributing to operation of the waste facility at Lanham Green Road, in Cressing, by RJ Brett Contracts Ltd, without an environmental permit between 3 July 2024 31 January 2025;
- And between 1 February 2025 and 30 January 2026;
- Contrary to section 59(5) and s157(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. knowing of or contributing to RJ Brett Contracts Ltd failing to comply with a notice dated 28 November 2024 served on the company, requiring it to remove controlled waste from the site by 30 January 2025;
- Contrary to sections 33(1)(c) and 157 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, knowing of or contributing to RJ Brett Contracts Ltd keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health.
Brett and RJ Brett Contracts Ltd will be sentenced at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on May 15, when elements of the case will also be heard.
