header-logo header-logo

Change of course in river pollution claim

29 May 2024
Issue: 8073 / Categories: Legal News , Environment
printer mail-detail

The High Court has clarified the legal duties of regulators, farmers and communities in a dispute over pollution in the River Wye, which is designated a Special Area of Conservation

Campaign group River Action argued the river was being polluted by run-off from chicken manure spread on agricultural land within the river catchment. It said this raised phosphorus levels, causing algal blooms which harmed vegetation and wildlife.

It claimed the Environment Agency was enforcing the Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018, which are also known as the Farming Rules for Water, in a way that frustrated the purpose of the legislation, was acting unlawfully, and had breached reg 9(3) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

The National Farmers Union, intervening, brought evidence showing it would not be practical to farm in a way compliant with River Action’s interpretation of the Farming Rules for Water. River Action countered with evidence from farmers who practise regenerative farming methods.

Handing down judgment in R (River Action UK) v Environment Agency & Ors [2024] EWHC 1279 (Admin) last week, Mr Justice Dove dismissed the judicial review on all three grounds and held the Environment Agency’s enforcement policies are now lawful. However, he noted the agency had changed these during the course of proceedings as a result of River Action’s legal claim.

Dove J said the evidence provided by the NFU ‘demonstrates that current agricultural working practices would have to change’.

Ricardo Gama, solicitor at Leigh Day, representing River Action, said: ‘The judge has said that River Action was right in their interpretation of the law and he welcomed the extensive evidence which River Action put forward of farmers who do the right thing and farm in a way that respects the rules.’

Issue: 8073 / Categories: Legal News , Environment
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

mfg Solicitors—Brian Hession

Birmingham commercial property team bolstered by partner hire

STEP—Sara Morgan

STEP—Sara Morgan

Fieldfisher director re-elected as deputy chair of England Wales committee

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Osborne Clarke—Andrew Eaton

Restructuring and insolvency expert joins as partner

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll