Keepmoat Homes and Applebridge Construction will donate a total of £135,000 to the Aire Rivers Trust after polluting Pitty Beck multiple times while building a new housing estate near Bradford.

Site owner Keepmoat will donate £100,000 while subcontractor Applebridge will hand over £35,000.

An investigation by the Environment Agency found that Pitty Beck was polluted a number of times between October 2016 and November 2018 while construction was underway.

The companies submitted Enforcement Undertakings to the Environment Agency, which have now been accepted.

An Enforcement Undertaking is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals to make amends for their offending, and usually includes a donation to an environmental charity to carry out improvements in the local area.

On 13 October 2016 Keepmoat Homes reported pollution from its site, and an Environment Agency officer confirmed that silty water was running from the site and into the beck.

The same happened on numerous occasions over subsequent months. The company did not have an environmental permit to allow for treated water to be discharged into the beck.

Environment Agency Area Environment Manager Ben Hocking said: “Housing construction companies – like all companies carrying out any major development work – have a responsibility to ensure their work does not impact on the environment and we will take action when pollution occurs.

“While we will always take forward prosecutions in appropriate cases, Enforcement Undertakings are an effective enforcement tool to allow companies to put things right and contribute to environmental improvements.

“They allow polluters to restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents by improving their training and procedures.”

Water Minister Rebecca Pow said: “Companies that damage our natural environment must be held to account and enforcement action like this ensures polluters pay and help clean up our rivers and waterways.”

Aire Rivers Trust will use the donations on the monitoring and prevention of pollution on Bradford Beck, a ‘pocket park’ proposal at Bradford Beck and restoring habitats in the catchment, including some wetlands at Pitty Beck.