Monthly News Archives: December 2023

A newcomer to the world of injunctions

19 December 2023 by Guest Contributor

Factual background

The appeal in Wolverhampton City Council and others v London Gypsies and Travellers and others [2023] UKSC 47 concerned injunctions obtained by over 38 different local authorities between 2015 and 2020 to prevent unauthorised encampments by Gypsies and Travellers. These “newcomer injunctions” as they are known, are a wholly new form of injunction, granted without prior notice, against persons unidentified at time of the grant of the injunction and who have not yet performed, or even threatened to perform the acts which the injunction prohibits. They therefore apply “to potentially anyone in the world” [143(i)].

Local authorities sought to use such injunctions, due to the inefficacy of obtaining an injunction against named Gypsies or Travellers who, by the time proceedings have commenced, have left, and been replaced by another group, against whom the injunction has no effect.

Defra’s generic plan for river clean up unlawful – local focus on water bodies needed

15 December 2023 by Rosalind English

Pickering Fishery Association by Martin Smith, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2023] EWHC 2918 (Admin)

Now upheld on appeal, Wednesday 2 April 2025: see the Office of Environmental Protection summary here

Brief Overview

This interesting case concerns a problem endemic to the manner of regulating water bodies under the Water Framework Directive and the regulations passed under it. This is what happened.

The anglers’ group Pickering Fishery Association raised concerns with the Environment Agency regarding the deterioration in the water quality of the Upper Costa Beck (“UCB), a ground water fed stream in North Yorkshire. It is described by the water campaigning group that acted for them in this litigation as “one of the best trout and grayling rivers in Yorkshire”.  They owned the leasehold and freehold fishing rights for most of the UCB. The UCB provides water to two fish farms and downstream is the Yorkshire Water’s water treatment works, which discharges back into the UCB. 

The claimant’s concerns included the impact of the recorded sewage overflows from Pickering Waste-Water Treatment Works; the level of sediment deposits resulting from the fish farm ‘suspended solids’ emissions; and the adequacy of the Environment Agency’s environmental permit conditions and other controls. Sewerage overflows from the water treatment works occurred over 250 times in 2020 and over 400 times the year before. 

Law Pod UK latest: Toxic Torts

11 December 2023 by Rosalind English

Episode 190: join environmental law expert David Hart KC of 1 Crown Office Row and Roy Harrison, professor of public health and expert in airborne emissions of Birmingham University, for a fascinating and disturbing discussion of two cases concerning the contamination of the environment in countries where enforcement standards are not as strong as they are in the West. You will hear both the scientific details of how these contaminants behave when they get into the environment, and the practicalities of getting class actions going in the courts to bring the polluters to book.

One of the main cases discussed in this episode is still ongoing so no citation is available. Details of the Trafigura case can be derived from the Court of Appeal’s cost assessment following the settlement of the case Yao Essaie Motto and others v (1)Trafigura Limited and (2) Trafigura Beheer BV.

We have the Royal Society of Chemists to thank for this interesting discussion, in particularly the Society’s Toxicology Group which held a seminar in November to bring scientists and lawyers together to explore current perspectives on environmental toxic tort claims and review recent cases.

Let’s talk about sex: case note on For Women Scotland Limited v The Scottish Ministers [2023] CSIH 37

5 December 2023 by Lance Baynham

In For Women Scotland Limited v The Scottish Ministers [2023] CSIH 37 (“For Women Scotland 2”), the Inner House of the Court of Session has confirmed (for Scotland, at least) the relationship between the Gender Recognition Act 2004(“GRA”) and Equality Act 2010 (“EqA”). In summary, it was held that the meaning of sex in s.11 EqA incorporated the GRA framework. The upshot is that, for transgender people, sex under the EqA is determined by possession of a GRC. Thus, for EqA purposes, the sex of a transgender person without a GRC is their natal sex. On the other hand, the sex of a transgender person with a GRC is their “acquired” (to use the language of the GRA) gender.

This case note briefly sets out some of the relevant law, explores the background to the case and the judgment, and then offers some brief comments by way of conclusion. References in square brackets are to paragraphs of the judgment.