Insider Media Limited

House-building giant Barratt Homes has been forced to pay £13,400 in fines and costs after sewage escaped from a housing development and polluted a stream close to the Tamar Valley in Cornwall.

The case was brought against the Leicestershire-based developer by the Environment Agency.

In September last year, sewage was reported in a stream flowing into a tributary of the River Tamar, the agency said. The pollution was later traced to a housing development near Callington where Barratt Homes had built 84 new homes.

Checks by the Environment Agency showed the new development’s pumping station had failed causing sewage to overflow from a collection chamber onto the ground and into a nearby stream.

“We estimate sewage escaped intermittently for at least two weeks. This would have had a serious effect on water quality in the stream. It was avoidable and resulted through a lack proper monitoring," said Louise Weller for the Environment Agency.

“Barratt Homes are a national house builder. They are well aware of the potential impact their activities can have on watercourses. In this case, the failure to ensure an adequate system of monitoring was in place resulted in a stream being polluted,” she added.

Barratt Homes was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,448 costs by Bodmin magistrates after pleading guilty to causing noxious or polluting matter to enter controlled waters between August and September last year.