County Down man fined £2,500 for offence under Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations

County Down man Geoffrey Chambers (63) of Moneydarragh Road in Annalong was today (Monday, 21st June) fined a total of £2,500 at Newry Magistrates’ Court for one offence under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007.

Mr Chambers had failed to comply with a Reinstatement Notice to return a field at Mill Road, Mullartown, Annalong back to good environmental condition. A Reinstatement Notice on the lands at Mill Road in Mullartown, Annalong had been issued to Mr Chambers in 2018 to return the field to a good environmental condition after Mr Chambers had disturbed uncultivated semi-natural grasslands, scrub and wet heath moorland.

In 2018 and 2019, it was discovered that instead of implementing the Reinstatement Notice, Mr Chambers had conducted works in contravention of the Reinstatement Notice requirements:

- Sowing out unpermitted clover and grasses in contravention of Reinstatement Notice requirements

- Applying fertiliser, lime and slurry to the field in contravention of Reinstatement Notice requirements

The case initially arose from reports from a member of the public.