Site owner Keepmoat will donate £100,000 while subcontractor Applebridge will hand over £35,000.

An investigation by the Environment Agency found that Pitty Beck was polluted a number of times between October 2016 and November 2018 while construction was underway.

The companies submitted Enforcement Undertakings to the Environment Agency, which have now been accepted.

An Enforcement Undertaking is a voluntary offer made by companies and individuals to make amends for their offending, and usually includes a donation to an environmental charity to carry out improvements in the local area.

On 13 October 2016 Keepmoat Homes reported pollution from its site, and an Environment Agency officer confirmed that silty water was running from the site and into the beck.

The same happened on numerous occasions over subsequent months. The company did not have an environmental permit to allow for treated water to be discharged into the beck.

Environment Agency Area Environment Manager Ben Hocking said: “Housing construction companies – like all companies carrying out any major development work – have a responsibility to ensure their work does not impact on the environment and we will take action when pollution occurs.

“While we will always take forward prosecutions in appropriate cases, Enforcement Undertakings are an effective enforcement tool to allow companies to put things right and contribute to environmental improvements.

“They allow polluters to restore the harm caused to the environment and prevent repeat incidents by improving their training and procedures.”

Chris Clingo, Acting Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat, Yorkshire West, said: “After being made aware of the pollution to Pitty Beck during the construction of Heron’s Reach in 2018, we voluntarily submitted Enforcement Undertakings to the Environment Agency during the same year, to take action as quickly as possible. I am very pleased that the Environment Agency has accepted the Undertakings and we are now funding the cleaning of Pitty Beck.

“Since 2018, we have put in place strict measures to ensure this does not happen again, including implementing robust water management plans across our developments, constructing urban drainage ponds where needed, and improving our inspection and monitoring regime. We are committed to building sustainable communities that do not harm our natural environment. We hope that the funds we’ve donated are being well spent on restoring the health of the beck for today’s local community and future generations.”

Aire Rivers Trust will use the donations on the monitoring and prevention of pollution on Bradford Beck, a ‘pocket park’ proposal at Bradford Beck and restoring habitats in the catchment, including some wetlands at Pitty Beck.