A trial arising from an investigation following a huge fire at a plastics recycling plant has been put off for another year.

A date had been pencilled in this month for the trial at Teesside Crown Court, which is connected to a blaze at the Greenology Teesside Limited site in Liverton Mines, east Cleveland, in April 2020.

But the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has learnt that matters have been delayed with the trial being rescheduled to February 19 next year.

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Former director Laura Hepburn is accused of two charges of breaching environmental permits and two charges of keeping controlled waste likely to contribute to pollution or harm to human health in 2019 and 2020 relating to the Greenology plant in Lantsbury Drive.

Her business partner Jonathan Guy Brudenell is charged with three offences connected to the use of environmental permits during 2018 and 2019 and one charge of keeping controlled waste likely to contribute to pollution or harm human health in 2019.

He is also facing two charges of taking part in the formation, control or management of a company while under the subject of bankruptcy restrictions in 2018 and 2019.

Both defendants, whose addresses were previously given as Sandsend, North Yorkshire, have yet to formally plead to the charges.

The companies Greenology and Selective Environmental Solutions Ltd are also facing associated charges over alleged permit breaches.

A third accused, Peter Waldron, a director of Selective Environmental Solutions, admitted a charge of breaching the terms of an environmental permit between January and February 2019 following an appearance before Teesside magistrates in December 2021.

Waldron, from Northallerton, will be sentenced at the conclusion of the case.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said the adjournment was “not in relation to ourselves” and confirmed the case had been relisted for February next year.

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The LDRS understands that difficulties with expert witnesses who may be called to give evidence has been one factor in the trial being pushed back.

The fire at the industrial site sparked protests from residents and led to Greenology switching its operations to a base in Skippers Lane, Middlesbrough.

The vacant site at Lantsbery Drive has since been bought by a developer with a view to bringing it back into use by erecting new commercial units.