Barratt pays vet bill for dog made ill by sewage leak

Housebuilder Barratt has been fined £13,500 and paid for a dog’s vet bill after it allowed sewage to leak into a stream.

At Bodmin magistrates’ court yesterday, Barratt Homes Exeter pleaded guilty to polluting the Alren stream, near Callington in Cornwall, with raw, untreated sewage between 31 August and 11 September 2009. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

The problem occurred when a pumping station at the Calcos Place housing estate in Kelly Bray, near Callington, failed and overflowed. An alarm which is meant to be set off when the sewage reaches a certain height had not been installed.  

Barratt said it had believed a subcontractor was monitoring the tanks, but accepted responsibility. Barratt Homes Exeter’s managing director, Tim Larner, personally helped clean up the mess and the company also paid a vet bill for a dog believed to have been made ill by the sewage.