Win for anglers and river health in court ruling
A landmark court case could prompt tighter regulation of sewage discharges in England and Wales, and improve river health.
A recent high court ruling found the UK government and Environment Agency (EA) have failed in their legal duties to restore and protect waterways from pollution - potentially leading to an overhaul of current government plans. Angling associations Fish Legal and Pickering Fishery Association took legal action against the government over its river basin management plan for the Costa Beck River in North Yorkshire, citing sewage pollution as a major issue.
The case was heard over two days at the Royal Courts of Justice on 12-13 July. On 20 November, Justice Lieven ruled that the government and EA had failed in their legal duties to review, update, and implement measures to restore rivers and water bodies.
"We hope this ruling will lead to widespread implementation of actual, on-the-ground improvements, not only on the Costa Beck but on every other ‘failing’ river and lake across the country."
The judge characterised the Secretary of State’s approach as one of “smoke and mirrors”, noting that there was no evidence the programme of measures could reasonably be expected to achieve the environmental objectives. The public consultation process was deemed unlawful as it did not provide enough information for anglers to understand the proposed actions and the court ruled that they defeated the right of the public to participate and contribute to the river planning process.
Fish Legal, acting on behalf of the Pickering Fishery Association, brought a legal challenge to the government’s deficient River Basin Management Plan for the Humber district, as signed off by then Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Therese Coffey, and published in December 2022.
The angling club argued the plan, which comprised wholly generic or yet to be formulated steps, lacked the legally required measures necessary to restore the Upper Costa Beck, such as review and tightening of inadequate discharge permits and other authorisations to tackle the root causes of the fish failure. The Costa Beck is failing for fish under the Water Framework Directive Regulations.
Andrew Kelton, a solicitor for Fish Legal, said: "This case goes to the heart of why Government has failed to make progress towards improving the health of rivers and lakes in England. The Upper Costa Beck is just one of 4,929 waterbodies, but it is a case study in regulatory inaction in the face of evidence of declining river health.
"The Environment Agency and the Government have taken a high-level, generic – and effectively non-committal – approach to the mandatory targets when what was needed was a waterbody-by-waterbody plan of real, committed action," he added.
Evidence presented in court showed that pollution, including Yorkshire Water's sewage overflow, is contributing to the poor condition of the Costa Beck River, highlighting the need for tighter regulation of discharges in order to improve river health. The ruling could potentially require the government to strengthen its plans to protect waterways from pollution.