A LEADING country hotel has been fined £20,000 for polluting a watercourse with inadequately treated sewage.

Beamish Hall Hotel near Stanley, County Durham - close to Beamish Open Air Museum - was prosecuted by the Environment Agency.

The hotel, once the home of Bobby Shafto – subject of the famous folk song - has its own sewage treatment works and is allowed to discharge treated waste into Beamish Burn.

Magistrates at Peterlee were told that grey effluent was seen running into the watercourse several times last year.

Solid waste particles were present and the burn’s banks smelled of sewage.

Hotel representatives admitted one charge of breaching a condition of the environmental permit allowing the discharge of treated sewage provided it is treated to certain standards.

Chris Bunting, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, said samples of water taken in April, May and June had increased ammonia and reduced oxygen levels, both beyond the limits of the permit.

Investigating officers saw that the sewage treatment plant was in a poor state of maintenance, he said.

The filter bed had a layer of sludge on it and a tipping tray was not working properly.

After the case, environment management team leader Graham Siddle said: “I hope other hotels and similar leisure facilities take note of the outcome of this case.

“The Environment Agency works with businesses to help them meet their environmental obligations, but where significant breaches are found, enforcement action will be taken.”

The court also ordered the hotel to pay £2,850 in costs and a £200 victim surcharge.

Speaking afterwards a spokesperson for Beamish Hall said: “We have been working in close partnership with the local environmental authorities to ensure the filtration system we have in place is fully compliant.

“Since the initial tests were carried out 12 months ago, we have taken action to completely overhaul our filtration process. This included significant investment in the installation of a new state-of-the-art treatment system.

“We continue to work closely with our environmental partners to monitor the situation and ensure that all the required measures are in place.”