A MAN from Accrington was ordered to pay more than £40,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to seven waste offences.

Frank Spencer, of Plantation Road, was fined a total of £39,330 by Accrington magistrates and ordered to pay costs of £3,180.25 to the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution.

Spencer's offences included illegally tipping and burning waste at the site of the former Meadow Top Colliery, Altham Lane, Huncoat, as well as failing to supply information to the Environment Agency. Finola Eyers, prosecuting for the agency, told the court that both the agency and Lancashire County Council had received complaints from nearby residents about the defendant's activities at the site.

Spencer bought the site in September 1999 and continued to use it for illegal waste operations, despite having neither a Waste Management Licence from the Environment Agency nor the necessary planning permission.

The court was told that agency staff visited the site six times between December 1999 and March 2000. A number of warning letters were also sent.

Mrs Eyers told the court that Spencer continued his unlicensed waste operation at the site despite knowing he needed a licence and would be prosecuting for continuing without one.

In fact, he increased his activities during the agency's investigation.

During the period covered by the offences, September 1999 to March 2000, about 7,400 tonnes of waste is believed to have been deposited at the site illegally. Mr Spencer claims that during this period he has lost £1.2million which he is determined to get back.

He said: "I was down as a millionaire before I started on this site but Lancashire County Council, Hyndburn Borough Council and the Environment Agency have let me down."

Mr Spencer said that the land would be landscaped within 30 days and he now hoped to gain planning permission for industrial units on the land so that he could sell it on and regain his money.