Council Enables Brett Aggregates' Law Breaking (Pt1)

Brassnecked Brett Aggregates has the effrontery  to brag  on its website that “safety health and the environment are key considerations in all out activities” and that it will “liaise with stakeholders” such as the communities living close to its facilities when it plans to make changes to its operation. But this doesn’t  seem to apply in Ramsgate!

Those of you who have passed by Ramsgate Port in recent weeks will  have noticed the massive piles of sand and aggregate building up at Brett’s concrete batching  facility   and the huge increase in  lorries visiting the site to pick up loads of these construction materials.  

Many of you will also have heard prolonged and loud noises emanating from the port as marine dredged  aggregate is crushed  and graded into smaller sizes for use by  the construction industry and whilst  aggregate is offloaded from dredgers visiting the port

The crushing of aggregate is a  hazardous  process which can endanger the health of those doing the crushing and those living, working in, or visiting the vicinity of the crushing facility.

The biggest danger is exposure to dust.  Crushing generates substantial airborne dust, often containing respirable crystalline silica, which is linked to serious respiratory illnesses such as silicosis and chronic bronchitis. The noise generated by the offloading of the aggregate from dredgers and its crushing can also be a serious hazard to those in the vicinity of the port.

Let’s not  forget the large increase in vehicle movements to and from the Brett site at Ramsgate Port  to collect and deliver sand and aggregate. The emissions from these vehicles will cause further health-damaging pollution too.

So dangerous to public  health and the environment is aggregate crushing  that the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 require Brett Aggregates to obtain a permit from Thanet Council (TDC)  to allow them to carry out this potentially dangerous operation.

The permit includes  conditions which  ensure that crushing will be carried out in ways which  will reduce, or eliminate,  pollution. The permit also requires  Brett Aggregate to monitor its operations 24/7   to ensure that no pollutants escape into the air or elsewhere.

On 10 November I wrote to Thanet Council to find out whether Brett had a permit to carry out aggregate crushing at Ramsgate Port;

“ In view of Brett Aggregates’  extension of the scope and scale of its activities at the port please tell me whether the company has applied to the council for the relevant environmental licenses/ permits

TDC  has not replied.   But to my surprise I received a copy of a leaked email from TDCs  Environment Director Mike Humber which he sent to all TDC councillors and which says:

“Officers have recently become aware that Brett Aggregates has… been using a mobile crushing plant on site, for short periods of, since August 2025. A crushing plant is used to crush coarser aggregate and stone to create products with a smaller particle size or a range of particle sizes”.

The email goes on to say that:

Environmental Health officers are currently communicating with Brett Aggregates on the permitting requirements for the processing operations. Permitting considers the risk of emissions and specifically dust from such operations and makes sure that measures are in place to mitigate the risk posed by such operations to the environment and to human health. The mobile crushing plant being used at the port has an existing permit which places controls on its use. Brett Aggregates has confirmed it is in the process of applying to the council for a permit for the screening plant.

In other words Brett Aggregates has been crushing and screening aggregate at the Port of Ramsgate without the appropriate environmental permit for over three months.

How such noisy and disruptive activities on council owned property,  escaped the attention of TDC staff for such a long period of time, beggars belief. In fact Mr Humber’s email reveals that during this period TDC had received several complaints from the public “about noise at the port, both overnight and during the day”.

But why did it take Mr Humber  over three months to investigate these complaints and report the unpermitted activities to councillors, and how much noise and  health damaging air pollution have the people of Ramsgate been forced to endure  because of  TDCs incompetent delays .

Paragraph 12(1) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 says that a person (or company) must not carry out regulated processes such as washing and crushing aggregates, without holding an environmental permit.

Paragraph 38(1) of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016 says that

 It is an offence for a person to— (a)contravene regulation 12(1), or

(b)knowingly cause or knowingly permit the contravention of regulation 12(1)(a)

In other words by operating without an appropriate environmental permit for washing and crushing aggregate at the Port of Ramsgate, Brett Aggregates have committed a criminal offence.

But to my utter astonishment TDC,  which is responsible for   awarding  the required environmental permit,  has failed to use its  legal powers to initiate the criminal prosecution of  Brett Aggregates and has failed to order the company to immediately cease and desist from washing and crushing aggregate at the Port of Ramsgate.

Instead, Mr. Humber’s email says that  

“In the meantime, aggregate processing operations will be allowed to continue but with voluntary mitigations in place during the permit determination period. A water spray dust suppression system will be used during screening and crushing operations as a precautionary measure.  Aggregate processing will be strictly limited to weekdays only between 7.30am and 4pm. This does not preclude vessels arriving and discharging outside these hours and it is important that the port continues to be available to customers on a 24/7 basis. For context, 35 aggregate vessels have arrived since the beginning of February this year. Seven of these took place outside normal working hours”.

This means that TDC is via unspecified voluntary mitigations for an unspecified period of time allowing Brett to continue washing and crushing aggregate at the port.

This means that people of Ramsgate will be forced to endure a prolonged, but totally avoidable, risk of serious  health damaging air pollution and noise pollution too.

This also means that TDC is actively supporting and enabling a potential and dangerous  law breaker at the expense of the health,  well-being and mortality  of the districts residents. Why?

I can only assume that the rent paid to TDC by Brett for using the Port is more important than the health of the people of Ramsgate. I also believe that,  as it has done in the past,  Brett may also have  threatened TDC that it would quit the Port if it didn’t get its way with the washing and crushing.  This is probably why TDC has surrendered instead of taking decisive action.

I hope you agree with me that TDC has no chocie other than ordering Brett to cease washing and crushing aggregate at the port with immediate effect and to intitiate the prosection of Brett for carrying out unpermitted processes without a permit. Nothing less will do!

In all my years of trying to hold TDC to account via my blog, seldom have I encountered anything as serious as this. There is much  more to reveal which I haven’t touched on here, but Part 2 of this article which I will publish  early next week  will deal with that.

In the meantime if you know anything about Brett &  TDCs actions relating to this article, or anything else for that matter please contact me on ianddriver@yahoo.co.uk or call me on 07866588766. Confidentiality assured.