A COUNTY Tyrone farmer was sentenced at Omagh Magistrates’ Court for two offences under the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007.

Director of Lakeland Farms Limited, Derek Keys (55), of Omagh Road in Dromore, was fined £1,600 for failing to comply with a Reinstatement Notice to return lands in the townland of Drumgoland, outside Newtownbutler, back to good environmental condition, and for conducting further works on the same lands without appropriate consent from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

A Reinstatement Notice on the lands at Drumgoland had been issued to Keys in 2018 to return lands to good environmental condition after he had conducted unpermitted clearance of scrub/woodland, and ploughing of semi-natural grassland.

In 2019, it was discovered that instead of implementing the Reinstatement Notice, Keys had conducted further works without appropriate consent.

These works included the removal of 3.3 hectares of scrub/woodland, the removal of 1,727m of field boundaries, the opening of 2,956m of drainage, and working on the site of a historical monument.

The case initially arose from reports from members of the public.