by Keith Hunt

Hundreds of lorries illegally dumped controlled waste in a designated area of natural beauty, a court heard.

The trucks spent three weeks queuing up on land next to the A224 at Polhill near Sevenoaks to create an 8,200 cubic metre mountain of waste.

Sailesh Mehta, prosecuting, told Maidstone Crown Court it was “a large scale, audacious dumping operation”.

Now, nine firms and drivers are facing sentences after admitting charges under the Environment Protection Act 1990.

They are P J Brown, Ltd, of Crawley, West Sussex, BSP (Knockholt), of Sevenoaks Road, Halstead, John Ryan, 55, of Consdale Drive, Gillingham, Craig Starbuck, 37, of Beaconsfield Road, Bexley, Marc Gwyther, 47, of Ross Road, Crayford, United Grab Hire, of Honeypot Lane, Edenbridge, Gregory Roff, 45, of Ash Road, Hartley, LMD Crushed Aggregates, of Climpstead Way, Bansted, Surrey, and Peter Alexander, 51, of Sprattsbrook House, Eridge Road, Tunbridge Wells.

Mr Mehta said the Environment Agency became aware of the dumping in April 2008.

“It involved some amount of planning as far as the organiser or organisers were concerned,” he said.

“It required vast numbers of lorries to be dealt with quickly so they could dump their load and move on.

“It required machinery to move it. It was a mixture of construction waste - bricks, plastic, pipes and the like.

“Each defendant played a part, big or small, in the building up of this material at the site.

"There is always potential for harm, because one does not know what lies within that pile.

“There are negotiations still pending to remove the whole of that pile of waste.

"The total cost of moving it is in the region of half a million pounds.”

One of the many concerns was the dumping site was designated to be of natural outstanding beauty.

Another concern was the site was above an underground store of water.

The prosecutor said one self-employed driver had been dealt with by magistrates and fined £5,000 for one dumping.

Judge Philip Statman will pass sentence on May 25.