A Belfast-based skip hire firm has pleaded guilty to breaching waste management legislation and been fined £17,000 in court.

The Department of Environment claimed Delta Skips' practices were posing a potential threat to human health.

When department staff visited the firm's site on the Upper Springfield Road last year they found 600 tones of 'controlled waste'.

The illegal waste included tyres, gas cylinders and food remains.

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The site did not have planning permission and was not licensed for the waste.

A director of Delta Skips Ltd, William McQuillan, pleaded guilty to three charges under the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997.

The firm also agreed to pay £6,400 to the department for loss of revenue resulting from failure to pay the required Waste Management Licence fees and the planning approval fee.

Department staff told the court, on inspecting the site, there was evidence that a significant amount of domestic and food waste had attracted vermin.

Officials said that the site, less than 100 yards from a large residential development, was of potential harm to human health in the area as it had no appropriate containment measures in place at the time of the site visits.

(PR/JM)