In Richards v Environment Agency and another [2022] EWCA Civ 26 David Hart QC, leading Thomas Beamont, appeared for the Interested Party landfill operator in both the High Court and Court of Appeal, in this case concerning emissions from a landfill site. The central question was whether the Environment Agency (EA) had taken sufficient steps to discharge its legal duties to protect the Claimant, a six-year-old boy who suffers from a respiratory condition. At first instance the High Court, apparently for the first time, made a declaration setting out specific emissions limits required of the Defendant Environment Agency to comply with their duties under the ECHR. The Court of Appeal set aside that declaration, finding that the court below had gone beyond the proper limit of the its role.
David and Thomas were instructed by Lukas Rootman and Rosalind Morgan of CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Oslwang LLP. The Court of Appeal judgment is available here and High Court judgment is available here.
