Chippenham farm fined £18,744 after two slurry pollution incidents polluted Bristol Avon tributaries
JD Spencer Farm Partnership pleaded guilty to illegal water discharges and failing to plan slurry spreading after two pollution incidents in November 2023 and March 2024; the partnership was fined £18,744.
JD Spencer Farm Partnership of Manor Farm, Langley Burrell, Chippenham, Wiltshire, was fined a total of £18,744 after two slurry pollution incidents that affected tributaries of the Bristol Avon. The partnership pleaded guilty at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on 6 March 2026 to four offences: two counts of illegal water discharge activities and two counts of failing to plan the spreading of slurry. The penalties comprised a £7,000 fine, a £2,800 victim surcharge and £8,944 in legal costs.
The first incident, in November 2023, involved slurry entering a tributary of the Bristol Avon. Downstream water samples taken after the incident showed very low dissolved oxygen levels and significant ammonia concentrations, indicating serious water quality impacts.
During a formal interview about the November 2023 incident, co-owner Winston Spencer denied recently spreading slurry or pumping from the slurry lagoon. He did, however, acknowledge that slurry and parlour washings stores were full and that runoff had occurred, suggesting heavy rainfall had washed off slurry spread the previous month.
The second incident occurred in March 2024 and caused slurry pollution to a watercourse at Langley Burrell. Environment Agency officers traced the pollution along multiple watercourses back to slurry deposits in three fields on Manor Farm. Spencer admitted that wet slurry had been deposited, was believed to have entered field drains and then the stream, and that the partnership did not have land drainage plans for those fields.
The Environment Agency used a drone to photograph the areas where slurry had run off. David Womack, senior environment officer, described the pollution as avoidable and stressed that farmers must ensure organic manures are properly stored and spread. He said guidance and assistance are available to reduce pollution risk, including advice on slurry storage and spreading, and urged reporting of incidents to the Environment Agency on its 24/7 line 0800 80 70 60.
The formal charges record that on or before 10 November 2023 and on or before 26 March 2024 the partnership permitted the unpermitted discharge of poisonous, noxious or polluting matter from Manor Farm into inland fresh waters in breach of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, and failed to plan the application of slurry to avoid significant agricultural diffuse pollution contrary to 2018 regulations. The partnership pleaded guilty to those offences at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on 6 March 2026.