Farm fined thousands after slurry pollutes river

A farm will pay more than £18,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to causing two slurry spills that polluted a local river.

JD Spencer Farm Partnership, based at Manor Farm in Langley Burrell near Chippenham, admitted two counts of illegal water discharge activities and two charges of failing to plan the spreading of slurry at Swindon Magistrates Court on Friday.

The partnership was fined £7,000 and costs of £8,944 for polluting the Bristol Avon in Chippenham after an Environment Agency (EA) investigation.

David Womack from the EA said: "This incident was avoidable and should never have happened. Farmers have a responsibility to ensure their organic manures are properly stored and spread."

The partnership was also instructed to pay a victim surcharge of £2,800.

The farm's co-owner, Winston Spencer, initially claimed that heavy rainfall had prompted a slurry run-off during the initial incident, but admitted depositing the slurry in the second case.

He also admitted the partnership had no land drainage plans for the fields in their care.

The first spill, which occurred in November 2023, led to slurry entering a tributary of the Bristol Avon.

Downstream water samples showed very low oxygen levels and the presence of significant quantities of ammonia in the water.

The second incident, in March 2024, resulted in slurry polluting a watercourse at Langley Burrell.

Following a report from a member of the public, EA officers tracked the pollution along several watercourses, eventually identifying the source as slurry deposits in three of the farm's fields.

The agency then used one of their drones to photograph the areas where slurry had run off, before bringing the prosecution.

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