A NORTH Yorkshire farmer planning to resurface his farmyard has been left fuming after Environment Agency officials accused him of breaking the law.

Geoff Bean, who farms outside Salton, spent more than £100 on crushed hardcore and tarmac from demolition work at nearby Kirkbymoorside.

But he was stunned to receive a letter from officials warning him his land did not have a Waste Management Licence, meaning the waste deposits on his land were contrary to the 1990 Environmental Protection Act.

Mr Bean said: "They are strangling us with red tape, I am sick to the back teeth of it.

"I am working very hard to ensure my son has a future to go into on the farm." Mr Bean said he had bought the hardcore for essential maintenance work on the farm.

"We are resurfacing a farmyard and filling a dutch barn floor which gets flooded," he explained.

"It will all be put to good use before the summer is out.

"There's quite a heap of hardcore and tarmac at the side of the road, it's on a concrete yard and it is on my land."

In a letter to Steve Williamson, senior enforcement officer with the Environment Agency, he added: "I purchased a quantity of very useful hardcore at a most advantageous price and have a receipted invoice to prove it, and if you think that makes me a criminal then I am afraid I can't agree."

Mr Williamson, who wrote to Mr Bean on Tuesday, said he was unable to comment on the ongoing case.

In his letter to the Ryedale farmer, he warned Mr Bean he had seven days to get in touch: "In order that I can further my enquiries into this matter, I now need to speak formally to you, to establish your involvement in this unlicensed waste management operation."

Mr Bean said he hoped his letter to the Environment Agency would satisfy them that he was not acting illegally.

Updated: 09:53 Monday, March 03, 2003