The Good Law Project has announced that it has been granted a hearing in the High Court in its legal challenge to force the Government to take much tougher action to stop water companies from discharging raw sewage into coastal waters.
According to the Good Law Project, the Public Trust Doctrine (PTD) has been recognised by the English Courts since at least 1299. It says that the state has a duty to safeguard vital natural resources and hold them in trust for the benefit of both current and future generations. It also enshrines the right for people to fish, gather food and navigate shared tidal waters.
The Good Law Project said the legal challenge makes the case that the Public Trust Doctrine requires the Government to take positive steps to safeguard our coastal waters.
The High Court application is the next step in the Good Law Project’s Clean Waters case, the legal action launched by alongside the Marine Conservation Society, Richard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist, Hugo Tagholm.
“We’ve brought this case with Marine Conservation Society, Richard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist, Hugo Tagholm to compel the Government to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharges Reduction Plan and make it fit for purpose.
The Good Law Project commented:
“We believe this could be one of the UK’s most significant environmental law cases in recent history. Our legal challenge revives an old common law legal doctrine – the Public Trust Doctrine – to force Government to take the protection of our rivers and seas seriously.
“We’ve brought this case to compel Government to rewrite Storm Overflows Discharges Reduction Plan and make it fit for purpose"
“A deluge of sewage is being discharged by water companies into our rivers and shores through a network of 14,500 storm overflows dotted across the country. But the Government’s current plan gives water companies until 2050 to improve their storm overflows and put a stop to industrial-scale sewage dumping. And the plan all but excludes coastal waters from protection.
“We believe that giving the green light to this environmental vandalism for decades to come is not just unconscionable – it’s also unlawful.”
“Winning this case could set a landmark precedent which would enable campaigners to use this doctrine for legal challenges to compel the Government to protect our shared natural environment.”
The Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE - “in my view, the Claimants have raised arguable grounds which merit consideration at a full hearing”
Announcing her decision in a Court Order to grant permission for the not for profit campaign organisation to apply for judicial review, High Court Judge the Honourable Mrs Justice Lang DBE commented:
“In my view, the Claimants have raised arguable grounds which merit consideration at a full hearing.”
The High Court King’s Bench Division Planning Court has granted the application for permission to apply for judicial review. The Secretary of State for Environment. Food and Rural Affairs has been named as the defendant, while the Environment Agency has been separately named as an Interested Party.
The legal representatives for the principal parties are now required to file and serve either joint or separate proposals as to how the claim should be heard, together with time estimates, within 21 days of the date of the order granting permission on 13th February 2023.