£9,000 fine for laird who altered course of River Tay

A LAIRD who admitted illegally carrying out work which altered the course of Scotland’s longest river has been fined £9,000 by a sheriff.

The owner of Murthly Castle and Estate admitted deliberately ignoring the law to alter around 140 metres of the River Tay in Perthshire, which was protected as a conservation area.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it was the biggest illicit alteration which they were aware of ever being carried out in Scotland.

Perth Sheriff Court was told yesterday that Thomas Fothringham’s flagrant attempt to change the river could have had “a significant environmental impact” on one of Europe’s top salmon rivers.

The court was told that as well as wild Atlantic salmon, the stretch of river affected was also home to several species of lamprey, otters and protected freshwater mussels.

Fothringham, 40, of Murthly Castle, Perthshire, admitted breaching strict rules by causing or permitting works to be carried out on a 140m stretch of the River Tay at Murthly Estate between 31 May and 8 June 2010.

Fothringham – who is involved with the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board – claimed he was carrying out the work for “health and safety reasons” as the bank had been eroded.

However fiscal depute John Malpass said: “The Tay is a nationally important watercourse and is recognised as a special area of conservation. It is an important habitat for freshwater pearl mussels, for which Scotland supports 50 per cent of the world’s population”.

He said that even if Fothringham had applied for permission to do the work it would probably have been refused due to the immense scale of the operation.

Sepa were alerted to the work being carried out and Mr Malpass said: “They indicated that this is the most extensive example of unauthorised river engineering works they have seen.

“The river bank protection has been altered significantly by the work. There was a risk of significant impact given the extensive nature of the work, both in morphing of species in the river and for the course of the river. It was causing damage.

“It is protected for that reason – so that no-one does tamper with the banking because of the significance of the species there.”

Solicitor Jonathan Guy, defending, said Fothringham was the owner of the estate which had made an annual loss for many years. He said his client earned £1,000 a week from “consultancy work, rental and dividends” and paid £400 a week in school fees.

“The works, from a health and safety perspective, were to improve what had been there previously,” he said. “He knew the works required a licence. He gave a full confession to officers when they interviewed him. It has been a very serious error of judgment and he is deeply remorseful for his actions.”

Co-accused, contractor John McIntosh, was fined £900.

A spokesman for SEPA said: “We hope that fines will act as a reminder to anyone organising or carrying out engineering works in rivers that result in damage to the environment will be taken very seriously.”