Rob Biddlecombe sniffs out recent nuisance developments
In Hirose Electrical UK Ltd v Peak Ingredients Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 987, [2011] All ER (D) 57 (Aug), the claimant took an assignment of a lease on an industrial estate in Milton Keynes in 1993. The claimant’s business was the manufacture of parts for mobile telephones and the claimant used its premises for offices, warehousing, and distribution. In 2002, the defendant was granted a lease of adjoining premises. The defendant’s business was the manufacture of food additives and coatings and the defendant used its premises for the production of food with ancillary offices. The permitted use for the estate, approved by the secretary of state in 1980, was light industrial, general industrial storage and distribution (the equivalent of Classes B1, B2 and B8 under the Schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (SI 1987/764)).
From the outset of the defendant’s occupation, the claimant had complained of strong and pervasive smells (variously referred to as spicy, peppery, or like
