Companies pay out more than £1.5m for breaking environment laws – The Guardian

Posted January 31st, 2017 in enforcement, environmental protection, fines, news, pollution by sally

‘More than £1.5m will go to projects that help wildlife and the environment as companies pay for breaking green laws, the Environment Agency has said.’

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The Guardian, 30th January 2017

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Southern Water fined record £2m for sewage leak on Kent beaches – The Guardian

Posted December 20th, 2016 in fines, news, pollution, sewerage, water companies by sally

‘Southern Water has been fined a record £2m for flooding beaches in Kent with raw sewage, leaving them closed to the public for nine days.’

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The Guardian, 19th December 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

ASA bans ad to remove pollution filters from diesel cars – The Guardian

Posted December 14th, 2016 in advertising, environmental protection, news, pollution, road traffic by sally

‘The rogue practice of removing vital pollution filters from the exhausts of diesel vehicles has suffered a blow with the Advertising Standards Agency for the first time banning an advert for the service.’

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The Guardian, 14th December 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Four councils formally launch legal action over Heathrow expansion – Local Government Lawyer

Posted December 12th, 2016 in airports, consultations, local government, news, pollution by sally

‘Four local authorities have formally served legal papers accusing the Government of unlawfully supporting the expansion of Heathrow.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 12th December 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

When the court should look over the shoulder of a decision-maker – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted November 25th, 2016 in EC law, environmental protection, judicial review, news, pollution by tracey

‘R (ClientEarth No.2) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Garnham J, 21 November 2016. A quick follow-up ruling to the judgment of 2 November (here) in which the UK’s air pollution plans under EU and domestic laws were found wanting by the Administrative Court. The pollutant was nitrogen dioxide – a major product of vehicle exhaust fumes.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 23rd November 2016

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Council right to seek injunction against vegetable processing plant: judge – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 8th, 2016 in costs, injunctions, local government, news, nuisance, pollution by sally

‘It was reasonable for a council to apply for an interim injunction against a company over allegations of a bad odour from its vegetable processing plant, a High Court judge has ruled.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd November 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

High Court judge quashes DEFRA air quality plan over non-compliance – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 7th, 2016 in environmental protection, news, pollution by sally

‘A High Court judge has this week quashed the Government’s Air Quality Plan 2015 over its failure to bring the UK into compliance with the law “as soon as possible”.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd November 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

UK Government has breached air pollution laws and failed to take enough action on emissions, High Court rules – The Independent

‘The High Court has ruled against the Government over its failure to tackle illegal air pollution.’

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The Independent, 2nd November 2016

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Farm owners fined over ‘Stoulton Stink’ after council wins High Court appeal – Local Government Lawyer

Posted October 25th, 2016 in appeals, costs, fines, local government, news, pollution by michael

‘The owners of a farm responsible for a smell known as the “Stoulton Stink” have been sentenced this month, after a district council successfully appealed in the summer to the High Court.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 24th October 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Air quality law in the United Kingdom at a crossroads – OUP Blog

Posted October 3rd, 2016 in EC law, environmental protection, news, pollution by sally

‘UK air quality law now finds itself at a crossroads. Air quality law is a well-established area of environmental law, having been at the vanguard of much of it. It is a well-established area across multiple levels of governance, with local and national regulation in the UK operating against a backdrop of binding EU standards and an international law framework for transboundary air pollution (the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)). This multilevel body of law highlights that air pollution is a problem that has many sources – local, transboundary, stationary, mobile, manmade, natural – which act and interact via complex pollution pathways, leading to a range of regulatory responses within and beyond jurisdictional boundaries.’

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OUP Blog, 3rd October 2016

Source: www.blog.oup.com

High Court rejects judicial review challenge of Greenwich cruise liner terminal planning permission – OUT-LAW.com

Posted August 16th, 2016 in news, planning, pollution, ships by sally

‘A High Court Judge has rejected a judicial review challenge to overturn the proposal for a cruise liner terminal at Enderby Wharf, London.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 15th August 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

Leigh Day “breached duty” to thousands of Trafigura claimants who did not receive share of £30m settlement – Legal Futures

Posted June 17th, 2016 in compensation, law firms, negligence, news, pollution by tracey

‘Leading group action law firm Leigh Day has been found guilty of professional negligence after 6,624 of the claimants it represented in the high-profile Trafigura case were not paid their share of the £30m settlement.’

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Legal Futures, 17th June 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

UK government spent £105,000 in legal fees on lost air pollution case – The Guardian

‘The government spent at least £105,000 in legal costs while fighting and losing a court challenge over illegal levels of air pollution, according to data released through freedom of information rules, and now faces further bills from a new case it is contesting.’

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The Guardian, 11th May 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

UK government faces second court battle over air pollution plans – The Guardian

‘The UK government is to be sued in the high court over its air pollution plans, just a year after losing at the supreme court and being ordered to fulfil its legal duty to cut pollution rapidly.’

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The Guardian, 28th April 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

UK faces fresh legal challenge over weak plans to tackle air pollution – The Guardian

Posted March 18th, 2016 in appeals, EC law, environmental health, news, pollution, Supreme Court by tracey

‘The government faces a new legal challenge to force it to speed up and improve measures to tackle air pollution in British cities. Environmental law group ClientEarth has asked the high court to urgently review the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) latest plans to meet EU targets on the toxic gas NO2 which is emitted from vehicles and industry and is thought to kill about 25,000 people in the UK a year.’

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The Guardian, 18th March 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Planning, Environment & Property Newsletter – 39 Essex Chambers

Posted March 15th, 2016 in contamination, energy, environmental protection, news, planning, pollution by sally

Planning, Environment & Property Newsletter (PDF)

39 Essex Chambers, February 2016+

Source: www.39essex.com

Law firm in new legal threat over UK air pollution – BBC News

Posted March 1st, 2016 in climate change, law firms, news, pollution by sally

‘The UK government has been warned to drastically reduce air pollution or face renewed legal action.’

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BBC News, 1st March 2016

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Regina (Seiont, Gwyrfai and Llyfni Anglers’ Society) v Natural Resources Wales – WLR Daily

Posted January 14th, 2016 in EC law, environmental health, law reports, pollution by sally

Regina (Seiont, Gwyrfai and Llyfni Anglers’ Society) v Natural Resources Wales [2015] EWHC 3578 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 554

‘“Damage” as defined in article 2(2) of Parliament and Council Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability was restricted to a deterioration in the environmental situation and did not, in addition, include the prevention of an existing, already damaged environmental state from achieving a level which was acceptable in environmental terms or a deceleration in such achievement.’

WLR Daily, 17th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Off the scale: Sentencing very large companies for environmental crimes – Henderson Chambers

Posted July 27th, 2015 in environmental protection, news, pollution, sentencing, water companies by sally

‘Earlier this month judgment was handed down by the Court of Appeal in R v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2015] EWCA Crim 960, examining what should be done when a corporate offender’s turnover is so large that it falls outside the scale set down in the sentencing guidelines. This is the first case of its kind to come before the Court of Appeal since publication of the Definitive Guideline for Environmental Offences by the Sentencing Council in July 2014. Rejecting Thames Water’s appeal against a £250,000 fine, the court said that fines levied against very large companies “had to bring home the appropriate message to the directors and shareholders of the company” and could go as high as 100% of pre-tax profits. ‘

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Henderson Chambers, June 2015

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

Supreme Court: no excuses, UK must comply with EU air pollution law – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted May 1st, 2015 in EC law, environmental protection, news, pollution, Supreme Court by tracey

‘R (ClientEarth) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Supreme Court, 29 April 2015. Bit of a history to this one, with 5 hearings so far. The short version is that in May 2013, the UK Supreme Court (here), faced with the UK’s non-compliance with EU Directive 2008/50 (nitrogen dioxide etc in air), decide to refer various issues to the CJEU in Luxembourg. In 2014, the CJEU said its piece, (C404-13 and my post here), and its views are now considered by the Supreme Court, hence this second SC judgment.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 30th April 2015

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com