Owners of a ‘nuisance’ waste disposal company could face a criminal prosecution unless they clean up their act.
Kirklees Council is currently trying to obtain a court injunction against skip hire company Hunter Group.
The council is taking enforcement action against the firm based on Queens Mill Road in Lockwood following complaints about noise from the site and lorries illegally parking on Kings Mill Road.
If granted, an injunction would prevent Hunter Group breaking environmental regulations.
And if the injunction is breached, directors of the company could face prosecution resulting in a fine, or in extreme cases, up to two years in prison.
Kirklees Clr Andrew Cooper, who has been encouraging Kirklees Council to take action against Hunter Group, welcomed the move.
The Newsome ward councillor said: “Kirklees Council is working hard against a rogue company who are operating outside the law and flouting regulations as if they don’t apply to them.
“They need standing up to and I’m pleased the council is doing what it can.”
It is believed the Environment Agency is pursuing the company for allegedly breaching environmental regulations.
The agency had previously started enforcement action against Hunter Group after waste on the company’s site breached a fence and spilled onto the bank of the River Holme.
On Friday a Hunter Group lorry was spotted illegally parked on Queens Mill Road with three parking tickets attached to its windscreen while a ‘mountain’ of foul smelling waste was observed on the site from a nearby footpath.
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Clr Cooper said: “It’s a huge, stinking, festering mountain of waste. It’s horrendous – you can smell it down Queens Mills Road but it seems to be growing and growing.”
He added: “That company doesn’t seem to have any sort of social conscience. What is needed now is for Hunters to recognise their failings quickly and to deal with the problems they are causing the local community. Failure to do so is going to result in legal action that could make their business untenable going forward.”
Earlier this year The Examiner received numerous complaints from former Hunter Group customers after the company failed to collect its skips from their premises.
Some were left with full skips for several months despite repeated promises by the company to collect them.
Hunter Group boss Sam Hunter told the Examiner the company was opening a further site in Barnsley next month which would reduce pressure on the Lockwood premises.
“We’ve got too big and we’re taking on too many contracts for the size of our yard,” he said. “We’ve become a victim of our own success.”
