BOSSES at North West Water finally spoke today about why pollution charges were dropped against a chemical firm - but refused to reveal whether they had received a £100,000 costs payment.

Burnley MP Peter Pike has tabled an early day motion in the House of Commons demanding to know why the case against Oswaldtwistle's Nipa Laboratories was withdrawn at Blackburn Magistrates Court last Friday .

He has also asked for an explanation into claims that a pre-court agreement was made between the lawyers of Nipa and North West Water which allegedly involved the six-figure costs payment.

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope has said that the "deal smacked of collusion" between the firms.

Today, a spokesman for North West Water - which had twice insisted that everything had been explained during the court case - admitted that reasons for no evidence being offered had not been given to the hearing.

The company said the explanation was not given to the court because Stipendiary Magistrate Jonathon Finestein told the court there was "no need to".

But NWW still refused to comment today on the alleged costs payment and an alleged clause banning the payment being made public.

In a statement, a NWW spokesman revealed the text of what should have been said in court by their lawyer.

It said: "There are seven charges and under each it is alleged that the levels of phenols in the effluent discharged from Nipa's premises at Oswaldtwistle into the sewer exceeded those permitted by its consent. The charges all date back to April 1995. "This court accepted jurisdiction and the case was progressing towards trial when the Environment Agency launched its own prosecution in respect of discharges of phenols from Nipa's premises which in due course entered the River Calder after passing through Hyndburn wastewater treatment works.

"NWW accepts that there was some degree of overlap between some of the offences with which the EA charged Nipa and some of those which Nipa faces in the present proceedings. When that second prosecution came before this case, the court declined jurisdiction and committed the case to Preston Crown Court. As a result, NWW's prosecution was stayed.

"In May last year, the EA's prosecution was due to be tried before Preston Crown Court. However Nipa pleaded guilty to one of the EA's charges on the basis that it had on one occasion accidentally discharged a substantial quantity of 4CP (chemical substance) to the sewer and that had thereafter caused some pollution to the Calder.

"The defendant company remains one of North West Water's more significant industrial consumers. Further NWW recognises that since the incidents of April 1996 Nipa has made substantial improvements to its works.

"Given the result of the EA's prosecution, the fact that Nipa has always disputed its guilt in NWW's prosecution and the improvements which I have just mentioned, NWW has come to the view that it would not serve the public interest to prosecute the present charges any further and therefore offers no evidence on each of the seven charges."

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "If North West Water has chosen not to pursue its legal action then it is a matter for them."

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