A RIBBLE Valley farmer has been fined more than £2,000 for polluting a brook with slurry and killing around 5,000 fish.

Michael Makinson, of Cross Lane, Waddington, was given a 12-month conditional discharge by Blackburn magistrates and ordered to pay £2,171.

The incident happened in Bashall Brook and one of its tributaries on August 24 this year.

The Environment Agency received reports of dead and dying fish and sent out officers who saw dark coloured, foul smelling slurry and traced it to a tributary and to Makinson's farm. Makinson said part of his slurry tank had been sent away for repair and he had been using a inflatable bung to close an open pipe from the tank.

But he admitted he had noticed that the bung was missing the day before. He also told agency officers that he had seen the pollution in Bashall Brook, but he did not think it was serious or that it had gone beyond the farm's vicinity. He had since resealed the slurry tank.

He admitted one offence of pollution under the Water Resources Act 1991.

Jane Morgan, prosecuting for the agency, said officers showed Makinson, and his father Thomas Makinson, the extent of the pollution and the number of fish killed.

She said the defendant was extremely apologetic and that later in correspondence acknowledged full responsibility and offered to restock the the stream with fish.

A full survey of the impact of the slurry showed that around 5,000 fish were killed, including 262 brown trout, seven dace and about 4,000 minor freshwater species, including bullhead, stoneloach and minnows.

Mrs Morgan said there was no suggestion the defendant deliberately caused pollution, but he should have contacted the agency as soon as he was aware of the leak.