2018
Property developer caught dumping tonnes of soil ordered to pay £3,600 costs and compensation
Date Posted: 3:59 PM on Thu, 22 November 2018A property developer has pleaded guilty in court and ordered to pay over £3,600 after being caught fly tipping tonnes of soil by an eagle-eyed Neighbourhood Warden.
Marcus Mapleston, of Shaw Gardens, Gedling, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court for the fly tipping on two sites in Carlton and Mapperley after a Gedling Borough Council warden witnessed a man, hired by Mapleston, dumping the soil.
Neighbourhood Wardens Rachael Bryant and John Murphy, whilst on patrol, spotted a truck in transit carrying soil similar to some dumped the day before on the former Earl of Chesterfield site, Carlton. The wardens decided to follow the truck and then witnessed it go to the Earl of Chesterfield site and dump more soil.
The driver, who gave his name as Sean Murphy, claimed to have been hired to move waste onto the site, he then offered to take the wardens to the site where the soil came from but then drove off from the scene. The wardens checked the licence plate of the vehicle and found it had been rented to property developer Marcus Mapleston, who was building a property nearby.
The following day, the council received reports of another fly tipping incident at Mapperley Golf Course, where another large amount of soil had been fly tipped, blocking the public access. The fly tip at the golf course was witnessed by a resident who saw soil being collected from the development site owned by Mapleston and dumped on the grounds at approximately 11.30pm on the same day the wardens witnessed soil being dumped in Carlton.
The wardens began an investigation in to both incidents and found the clay at the sites were similar in size and consistency and invited Mr Mapleston to attend Gedling Borough Council for an interview under caution.
On 20 November, Mapleston pleaded guilty at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court to two offences of fly tipping. Mapleston admitted that he hired the truck that was used by another male to dump the soil and, although he claimed he paid a landscaper £1,000 to remove the soil, he was unable to provide any evidence to prove this was the case.
Mapleston was ordered to pay a total of £3,678 in costs and fines. He was ordered to pay £400 for the fly-tip at the old Earl of Chesterfield Site and £300 for the fly-tip at Mapperley Golf Club. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to Mapperley Golf Club for clean-up costs and £170 to the resident whose driveway was blocked, preventing them from getting to work. He was also ordered to prosecution costs of £768 to Gedling Borough Council and a victim surcharge of £40.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke Said;
“I’d like to congratulate our eagle-eyed wardens for their excellent work to catch this fly tipper. Mr Mapleston had a duty of care to make sure the soil from his property build was removed correctly and he failed in that duty. He now has to pay over £3,600 in costs and he will have a criminal record. This should act as a warning not to fly tip because if we catch you, we will prosecute you.”