AN Isle of White holiday park owner has been fined £5,000 for polluting an environmentally sensitive area with sewage.

Park Resorts, which owns three caravan parks on the Island, also had to pay £1,397 in costs to the Environment Agency after sewage at eight times the authorised limit was discovered at its Thorness Bay Holiday Centre.

Agency officers said if they hadn't intervened, pollution at the Thorness Bay Site of Special Scientific Interest, part of the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation, would have been "far worse".

The centre has a special consent from the agency that allows discharge of treated sewage to run from the site into a nearby watercourse.

But officers found its private sewage treatment works was not working correctly.

Sewage can damage fish and smother small creatures that live in the riverbed.

It is the second time Park Resorts, which owns three caravan parks on the Island, have had to pay out after a similar offence in Kent.

Environment Officer Jill Mears said: "We set limits to consents to make sure that the environment is not put at risk. As the owner of the property, Park Resorts should learn from this case that they have a responsibility to the environment and must ensure that any potentially polluting discharge is discharged safely and that it meets the conditions of their consent. If our officers hadn't intervened the situation could have been far worse.

"Not only was there a risk of harming a significant and sensitive nature site in Isle of Wight but, as an area that is used for recreation purposes and for fishing, this breach of compliance could have also affected the amenity value of the area."

Park Resorts, which runs 35 sites in the UK, including Thorness Bay near Cowes, Lower Hyde near Shanklin and Nodes Point near Ryde, was sold last week to private equity firm GI Partners in a £440m deal.