Wick Sheriff Court has fined farmer William Gunn of Quoys of Reiss Farm £2,800 for dumping around 20,000t of waste soil illegally and has "asked" him to liaise with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency over smoothing the edges of the mound.
SEPA was alerted to the mound, two to four metres high and containing plastic, wood and metal mixed with the soil, in 2005.
Although an exemption existed for soil for ecological or agricultural improvement, it was just infertile subsoil and no material was supposed to exceed the height of contiguous ground or to exceed two metres in height. He was judged to have deposited around 20,000t illegally.
The waste was still there four years later and the matter was reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Gunn pleaded guilty and Sheriff Abercrombie told him to liaise with SEPA in respect of remediation of the site to smooth out the edges of the mound.
"Although there has been no apparent pollution caused in this case, there is an environmental impact associated with the height of the mound," said SEPA investigating officer David Robinson.
"The surrounding land is predominately flat and the mound appears incongruous in this context, which is detrimental to the amenity for local residents and visitors. The mound of waste is adjacent to the main Wick to John O'Groats road, in a flat landscape visible by passing motorists on what is a main tourist route. If developers, building contractors or waste disposal contractors got the idea that it was easy to dispose of wastes in this way such events would be more common, and the impact of the waste deposits considerable."
