New photos have shown huge piles of rubbish at an Essex tip that was being run incorrectly. Roy Brett’s yard is nestled in green fields near Braintree, but he ignored repeated warnings about the amount of skips and waste built up at the site through his company, RJ Brett Contracts Ltd, which also admitted breaking the law.
Brett wanted the Environment Agency to believe the operation was completely legitimate. But the truth for the 66-year-old was very different. He didn’t have an environmental permit to manage the site.
After denial over a two-year period, and faced with damning evidence, Brett and RJ Brett Contracts Ltd confessed to breaches of environmental law between 2024 and 2026. The Environment Agency’s case is that Brett ignored written orders and face-to-face warnings to clear the compound at Lanham Green Lane, in the village of Cressing.
Brett’s yard was completely exposed to the elements. The Environment Agency told him it should be undercover. Essex Fire and Rescue Service became interested in the site, too. They told Brett to tidy up the yard and make sure nothing that could start a fire was brought in.
Concerns about the business were first raised with the Environment Agency in the summer of 2024, and an officer went to investigate. They found more than a dozen skips full of waste, giving off a strong smell. Brett was told he had three months to remove all of it.
Officers were back at the site in October as the situation hadn’t improved. Brett was then sent a cease-and-desist letter, warning the site had to be cleaned up, or he’d face prosecution. By January 2025, the deadline for the waste to be gone, almost 50 skips now filled the yard, some stacked on top of others. Officers also saw a massive pile of wood and soil.
He has now been charged with a number of charges, including knowing of or contributing to RJ Brett Contracts Ltd keeping controlled waste in a manner likely to cause pollution to the environment or harm to human health.
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