Environmental watchdog asks permission to intervene in water regulations appeal

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) is seeking permission to intervene in a Court of Appeal case on how regulations to protect and improve water are put into practice.

It wants to intervene in Pickering Fishery Association v the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to highlight the importance of clarity in the law.

The OEP said the appeal concerns a judicial review of the Secretary of State’s approval of the Humber River Basin Management Plan under the Water Framework Directive Regulations.

Appeal judges will consider whether planned measures to achieve environmental objectives for the Upper Costa Beck are sufficient to meet the regulations. 

The OEP said the case had wider ramifications for what should be in planned measures to achieve environmental objectives for water bodies across England. 

General counsel Peter Ashford said: “Our recently published Water Report finds that over four in five of our rivers, lakes and other surface waters are not in good ecological condition, or on a trajectory towards it.

“Having adequate programmes of measures to achieve environmental objectives is key to reversing this trajectory and improving outcomes for water bodies in England.

"We are interested in this case because of the opportunity to clarify the law here to ensure proper decision-making that promotes positive outcomes for English water bodies.”

The OEP was set up after Brexit to take on environmental regulatory duties previously held by the European Commission.

Mark Smulian