Cheese Firm Slapped with £23,700 Fine for Pollution Drama
Somerset’s Alvis Brothers Ltd, makers of Lye Cross Farm cheeses, has been hit with fines and costs exceeding £23,700. This marks their third pollution offence from their farm near Bristol.
Repeat Pollution Offender Fails to Learn
The company, based at Lye Cross Farm, Redhill, Bristol, pleaded guilty to causing the discharge of poisonous and polluting matter. Bristol magistrates fined them £20,000, slapped on £3,520 costs, plus a £190 victim surcharge. The Environment Agency brought the case to court.
Alvis Brothers Ltd supplies major supermarkets like Tesco, Ocado, and Asda, and exports cheese to over 40 countries.
Judge Slams Firm for Trying to ‘Get Away’ with Pollution
Magistrates revealed Alvis Brothers have prior offences from 2013 and 2019. District Judge Matthews blasted the firm for hiding pollution incidents, saying they “hope to get away with pollution.”
The Farm Operations Director, Nick Green, was grilled under oath and admitted the company had reported zero pollution incidents themselves.
Pollution Spill Caused by Plastic Blockage in Cheese Waste Pipe
Back in September 2020, Environmental Agency officers traced a milky, foul-smelling tributary of the Congresbury Yeo to a blocked pipe at the farm. The blockage was a plastic bag stuffed with gloves and other plastics. This pipe carried wash water from their cheese production to the treatment facility but overflowed, releasing pollution downstream.
Green confessed the company was sorry and pointed to efforts made after the spill to limit damage.
The Environment Agency slammed the firm for careless disposal and lack of alert systems to detect or report the blockage. Despite visible pollution, the spill went unreported until Agency intervention.
Agency Vows to Crack Down on Persistent Polluters
The judge rejected the company’s offer to pay an Environmental Undertaking – a softer penalty – given their troubling history.
“This is the third time Alvis Brothers Limited has been prosecuted since 2015 for polluting the watercourse,” said Senior Environment Officer Jo Masters. “We work closely with farmers to prevent pollution but take firm action when offenders repeatedly flout rules and fail to change their ways. Pollution incidents can be reported to our hotline 24/7 on 0800 80 70 60.”
