Firm fined for Summer Isles pollution incident

A company has been fined for a pollution incident in the Summer Isles.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued Summer Isles Enterprises (SIE) with a £600 fixed penalty after silt entered a sea loch from a construction site on Tanera Mòr.

Tanera Mòr is the largest of a group of small islands near Ullapool in the north west Highlands.

SIE has been approached for comment.

Sepa received a complaint on 21 September about a "significant plume of silt" in Loch Broom's Badentarbat Bay.

The environment watchdog carried out an inspection.

It said it found appropriate measures were not in place to prevent silt from being washed out into the bay during heavy rainfall.

John MacDonald, of Sepa's north Highland and Northern Isles team, said SIE had been asked previously to have prevention measures installed.

He said: "Appropriate silt mitigation measures are crucial to prevent pollution of burns, rivers and lochs - especially during heavy rainfall events.

"Excessive silt can have an impact on water quality, harm aquatic ecosystems and impact infrastructure."

Ian Wace, one of the UK's richest men, bought the island in 2017.

A £1.75m donation he gave Coigach Community Development Company allowed it to complete the purchase of almost 8,000 acres (3,237 ha) of land near Achiltibuie last month.

The group has taken over most of Badentarbet Estate, including a number of small tenant farms called crofts.

SIE has bought the remaining 1,100 acres (445 ha), including Achnahaird beach and four small islands.