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Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

Anemometers and wind farms once more: PINS now win the day

Posted in Art. 10 | Freedom of Expression, Case comments, Case law, Environment, European, Freedom of Information, In the news on May 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

DCLG v. Information Commissioner & WR [2012] UKUT  I have previously posted on the decision leading to this successful appeal by the Planning Inspectorate, against an order that they produce their legal advice concerning a planning appeal. The decision of the First-Tier Tribunal in favour of disclosure was reversed by a strong Upper Tribunal, chaired [...]

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Climate change human rights litigation: is it so radical? Nicola Peart

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Environment, In the news, International on May 9, 2012 | 5 Comments »

 In the UK there are at present no rights expressly cast in terms applicable to climate change, nor have our traditional human rights been extensively interpreted as covering climate change consequences. As David Hart QC identifies in his blog, Is climate change a human rights issue?, human rights principles, to be useful for climate change [...]

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Suing the corporate soul; parent company down for asbestosis

Posted in Case comments, Damages, Employment, Environment, In the news on May 4, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Chandler v. Cape Plc, Court of Appeal, 25 April 2012, read judgment. This may sound like a rather dreary topic, but the problem is vitally important for the proper reach of environmental and personal injury law. Some may have seen from my post on the Erika disaster the difficult issues which can arise when a [...]

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Is climate change a human rights issue?

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Environment, Features, In the news, International on April 24, 2012 | 4 Comments »

In his thought-provoking Guardian post Climate change is a human rights issue – and that’s how we can solve it, Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, makes a case for human rights playing a radical new part in our response to climate change. His argument involves a number of propositions: (i) global [...]

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Offshore wind farmer wrong-footed by the Planning Inspector

Posted in Art. 6 | Right to Fair Trial, Case comments, Case law, Environment, In the news on April 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Dudgeon Offshore Wind v. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government et al, HHJ Waksman QC, hearing 23 March 2012, read judgment Running a hearing can be difficult enough when you are sitting as a judge and are faced with parties in a civil case. At least then you have an agenda set by [...]

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The Erika disaster – why we need an international environmental court

Posted in Case comments, Case law, Criminal, Environment, European, In the news, International on April 8, 2012 | 4 Comments »

A long saga with a very new twist which should make even the most strident critic of international courts think again. On 12 December 1999, the Erika sank some 60 nautical miles off the Brittany coast, spilling some 20,000 tonnes of heavy fuel which in due course polluted some 400 km of the French coastline. [...]

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Cornish waste incinerator case reversed- expectation not legitimate after all

Posted in Case comments, Case law, Environment, European on March 30, 2012 |

R (o.t.a Cornwall Waste Forum, St Dennis Branch) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Court of Appeal, 29 March 2012, read judgment The CA has just held that Collins J was wrong to hold (per my previous post) that the local NGO had a legitimate expectation that the Secretary of State would decide [...]

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Promptness yet again in judicial review: It’s Complicated

Posted in Case comments, Case law, Environment, European, In the news on March 29, 2012 |

Berky, R (on the application of) v. Newport City Council, Court of Appeal, 29 March 2012, read judgment  Two first-instance cases last year (Buglife, and Broads) considered whether a defendant to a judicial review involving a European point can complain that the proceedings were not commenced “promptly” even though they were commenced within the 3 month time [...]

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A robust restatement of the principles of nuisance

Posted in Case comments, Damages, Environment, In the news, Property, tagged , , on March 27, 2012 |

Barr v. Biffa, CA, 19 March 2012, read judgment The reverse suffered by the claimants in the noisy motor racing case case before the Court of Appeal last month was something of a body blow to common lawyers and environmentalists. So this latest development in nuisance litigation should be welcome news. As David Hart’s report  suggests, the Court [...]

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Flooding claims from Vladivostok get to Strasbourg – and win

Posted in Art. 2 | Right to life, Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Article 1 | ECHR jurisdiction, Article 13 | Effective remedy, Case comments, Case law, Environment on March 27, 2012 |

Kolyadenko v. Russia EHCtR, 28 February 2012  This was the scene in the riverbed lying below a large reservoir near Vladivostok. There had been very heavy rain, causing the managers of the reservoir to let water through into that riverbed for fear that the reservoir might collapse. But the channel beneath was not exactly clear of obstructions, [...]

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The game changed back: Barr v. Biffa reversed

Posted in Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Case comments, Case law, Environment, In the news, Public/Private on March 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Barr v. Biffa, CA, 19 March 2012, read judgment For the last year or so, the law of nuisance has been in a state of flux pending this appeal. In this case about an odorous landfill,  Coulson J had ruled that compliance with the waste permit amounted to a defence to a claim in nuisance, [...]

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Wind and peat: another step along the reasons trail

Posted in Case comments, Environment, In the news on March 15, 2012 |

Welsh Ministers v. RWE Npower Renewables Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 311 read judgment, reversing RWE Npower Renewables v. Welsh Ministers & Swansea Council [2011] EWHC 1778 (Admin) Read judgment In my previous post on this case, I summarised the judge’s findings as to why this Planning Inspector had gone wrong at the wind farm inquiry. The Inspector turned down the [...]

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Annulment: all or nothing? Walloons in a mess about muck-spreading

Posted in Agriculture, Case comments, Case law, Environment, European on March 4, 2012 |

Case C-41/11,Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL,Terre wallonne ASBL v Région wallonne, CJEU, 28 February 2012, read judgment Some years ago, Belgium got itself into trouble for not properly implementing the Nitrates Directive, a measure designed to limit the amount of water pollution arising from muck-spreading and other good old-fashioned agricultural activities. And then it got itself into trouble under another [...]

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Belgium bitten by Aarhus – again

Posted in Case comments, Case law, Environment, European on February 19, 2012 |

Solvay, CJEU, 16 February 2012 read judgment This case is a sequel to C-128/09 Boxus, CJEU, 18 October 2011, for which see my post. Boxus was a reference from the Belgian Conseil d’Etat. Solvay was a reference from the Belgian Constitutional Court, with a wide set of questions asking, in effect, whether ratification by the Walloon Parliament of [...]

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Does a risk of an explosion engage Article 8?

Posted in Art. 8 | Right to Privacy/Family, Environment, European, Freedom of Information, In the news on February 15, 2012 |

Hardy & Maile v. United Kingdom, ECtHR, 14 February 2012 read judgment This Strasbourg decision is the end of a long saga. Our applicants Hardy and Maile lived near proposed Liquified Natural Gas terminals at Milford Haven. In 2003 and 2004, an oil refiner obtained various consents to enable the LNG to be imported, and the applicants challenged [...]

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