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Glastonbury Festival fined £31,000 for human waste leak that polluted stream

Festival founder Michael Eavis speaks outside Bristol Magistrates' Court after Glastonbury Festival is ordered to pay £31,000 following an incident in which human sewage from the festival polluted a nearby stream. Picture by Claire Hayhurst/PA Wire 
Festival founder Michael Eavis speaks outside Bristol Magistrates' Court after Glastonbury Festival is ordered to pay £31,000 following an incident in which human sewage from the festival polluted a nearby stream. Picture by Claire Hayhurst/PA Festival founder Michael Eavis speaks outside Bristol Magistrates' Court after Glastonbury Festival is ordered to pay £31,000 following an incident in which human sewage from the festival polluted a nearby stream. Picture by Claire Hayhurst/PA Wire 

GLASTONBURY Festival has been ordered to pay £31,000 after human waste from the site polluted a nearby stream.

But festival founder Michael Eavis said after court that the case "was a bit of a waste of time", but promised that a repeat incident "will not happen again".

The incident happened after a steel tank used to store human sewage from festival-goers sprung a leak during the event in June 2014.

Sewage filtered into Whitelake river and caused harm to water quality and fish - with a number of protected brown trout dying as a result.

Sensors in the steam alerted the Environment Agency, which later prosecuted the Somerset festival, that ammonia levels had increased.

Glastonbury Festivals Limited admitted a single charge of breaching environmental regulations at a hearing in January.

District Judge Simon Cooper, sitting at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, fined the festival £12,000 and ordered it to pay £19,000 towards prosecution costs.

The judge found Glastonbury Festival had "low culpability" for the incident and praised its response and systems following a two-day hearing.

"I am still slightly amused that it has been necessary to go to this level of detail," the judge said.

"I am concerned that these proceedings have set the Environment Agency somewhat against Glastonbury Festival Limited.

"The consequence is that I have had hammered out in front of me detailed evidence precisely concerning who did what in the night and the morning of June 29 2014.

"I am satisfied that there was proper planning for the festival and no criticism is made of that. The Environment Agency were in an advisory capacity and signed off the sanitary facilities plan.

"There was a waste management plan, there was a rivers and streams management plan."

The festival appeared in court on five occasions - twice at South Somerset and Mendip Magistrates' Court in Yeovil and three times in Bristol - in connection with the incident.

A Newton hearing to establish the festival's culpability started on Monday. The court heard the prosecution has cost the Environment Agency £34,236.81.

"It is not my place to act as a public inquiry into the matter," the judge added.

"I am impressed by how responsive Glastonbury Festivals Limited have been. I am satisfied that there was a proper system in place which had been previously approved.

"I am bemused at the vigour and energy that has been put into this detailed analysis of what happened much after the event.

"I am sure lessons will be learned. I shall say no more about it, save to say that cooperation is clearly essential and I hope that this hearing has done nothing to affect that."

The single charge stated that the festival caused "a water discharge activity not under or in accordance with an environmental permit, namely the discharge of human sewage derived from the Glastonbury music festival contrary to regulations 12(1)(b) and 38(1)(a) of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010".

Speaking after the case, the Environment Agency said more than 4km of the Whitelake River was polluted with 20,000 gallons of untreated sewage.

The festival's failure to alert the agency through a hotline resulted in an eight-hour delay and caused a "serious deterioration" in water quality, a spokeswoman said.

Speaking outside court, Mr Eavis said: "It's a great result and I think we were listened to fairly.

"I don't really think it was necessary to get this far. We pleaded guilty to make it easier for them yet they still wanted to pursue this case.

"I think it was a bit of a waste of time, to be honest with you. It wasn't that serious a crime really.

"We did our very, very best when we found the leak - we really did all that we should have done within the timescale.

"This wasn't really necessary. We should have been doing something else. We're putting together the biggest show in the world in four weeks' time."

Mr Eavis said the festival had invested heavily to ensure there would not be any leaks in future.

"It will not happen again," he added.