THE owners of a dairy farm in Sutcombe have been fined £1,500 for polluting a stream near an important salmon spawning river.

Husband and wife, John and Florence Ley, who farm as a partnership, were also prosecuted for illegally depositing waste in a quarry at their farm. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

The defendants keep a herd of approximately 200 dairy cows and around 150 young stock at West Brendon Farm, Sutcombe.

In February 2010 an agency officer noticed a 'tide mark' where dirty water had been discharging into a drainage ditch just below Brendon Farm. The ditch was in poor condition.

For more, see this week's edition of the 'Post'.