Significant UK Environmental Cases: 2011-12

摘要

Three nuisance cases in the Court of Appeal have produced some interesting legal analysis on the role of planning permissions and permits in nuisance claims. The most significant of the four is Barr v Biffa [2012] EWCA Civ 312 in which Carnwath LJ (as he then was) firmly restated traditional 19th century principles of nuisance following a flawed attempt to modernise the law at first instance. The first instance decision was reported in last year's case law review. The Court dismissed claims for nuisance arising out of odours from a waste tip in Hertfordshire operated by Biffa. In a lengthy judgment the judge had laid down a new principle that in the absence of negligence or breach of its permit the operator should not be liable in nuisance for the inevitable consequence of these activities. The Court of Appeal considered that the case should be governed by conventional principles of the law of nuisance namely that a nuisance is caused by a person unduly interfering with his neighbour in the comfortable and convenient enjoyment of his land. Relevant rules are that: