AN Astley man has been fined £500 for burning rubbish.

Anthony Lythgoe of Green Avenue was also ordered to pay £812.25 costs to the Environment Agency which brought the prosecution.

Magistrates at Wigan heard how on August 23 last year two Agency officers went to investigate reports that a fire was burning on land at the back of Green Avenue. They saw a fire in a metre deep pit and among the burning waste were wooden panels from a garage, metal supports, an old ladder and some broken glass -- and large pieces of cement-bonded asbestos sheeting.

Lythgoe said although he didn't own the land on which the fire was burning the waste being burned came from a garage that had been demolished on his property.

Atmosphere

Officers advised him to let the fire burn rather than put it out which would create more smoke and increase the risk of releasing asbestos particles into the atmosphere.

He said his sons demolished the garage and dumped materials on land behind Green Avenue and he had added more rubbish and set fire to it. He said he knew the garage contained asbestos but claimed he had not seen any such material in the fire. He admitted he had burned rubbish on the same land on many occasions.

Matt Lockett, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court asbestos was classified as 'special waste' -- a category reserved for toxic, harmful and hazardous substances. In burning the material on a site unlicensed for waste disposal of any kind, instead of arranging for his local council to dispose of the material correctly, he was risking harm to the environment and human health.