In June 2022, the Court of Appeal (Asplin, Arnold, Nugee LJJ) said not - The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 852 (27 June 2022) (bailii.org)
The Supreme Court has reversed that - The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd (Appellant) v United Utilities Water Ltd (Respondent) No 2 - The Supreme Court
See the Judgment (PDF) and the Press summary (PDF)
It was argued for United Utilities that such private law claims were excluded because of the statutory scheme for regulating sewerage established by the Water Industry Act 1991 (legislation.gov.uk)
As the summary notes - The implication of the Court of Appeal's judgment was that "no owner of a canal (or other watercourse or body of water) can bring a claim based on nuisance or trespass against a sewerage undertaker in respect of polluting discharges into the water, unless the sewerage undertaker is guilty of negligence or deliberate wrongdoing. A claim of this kind would be prevented even if the polluting discharges were frequent and had significant and damaging effects on the owner’s commercial or other interests, or on its ability to enjoy its property."
The Supreme Coutr held that the 1991 Act does not prevent the Canal Company from bringing a claim in nuisance or trespass when the canal is polluted by discharges of foul water from United Utilities’ outfalls, even if there has been no negligence or deliberate misconduct.
Discharge of sewage into watercourses is a major concern and
it was the subject of a previous post on this blog - Law and Lawyers: Environment Bill ~ Storm Overflows and Sewage Discharge (obiterj.blogspot.com). Back in 2021, the Environment Bill was passing through Parliament and the House of Lords sought to amend the bill by what was then referred to as Lords Amendment 45.This was a lengthy amendment seeking to insert a new Chapter into the Water Industry Act 1991. The amendment put forward by the Lords may be read here - HL Bill 57.fm (parliament.uk). It would have imposed on "sewerage undertakers" a duty to take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows.
The amendment failed because the the government considered the duty to be unnecessary and asked the Commons to omit it. The Minister (Rebecca Pow MP) said that to get rid of or eliminate storm sewage overflows would cost between £150bn to £660 bn.
Following the 2024 general election (4 July) it will fall to a future government to revisit this problem.
The Ship Canal was opened on 21 May 1894 by Queen Victoria (image above). When the canal opened in January 1894 (12 years after the first meeting of the Manchester Ship Canal company) it was the largest river navigation canal in the world and enabled the new Port of Manchester to become Britain's third-busiest port despite being about 40 mi (64 km) inland.
Manchester Ship Canal - Wikipedia
United Utilities Storms Overflow Report 2022 (pdf)
Shareholders | United Utilities - Corporate
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