Nuisance, negligence and other civil liability

In the UK, public bodies are primarily responsible for environmental protection and enhancement. This is secured through:

1. •

   environmental regulation, with criminal and civil sanctions available for non-compliance

2. •

   guidance, advice and warnings by regulators, and

3. •

   public law mechanisms such as judicial review that can provide the checks and balances on regulators through the ability to challenge unlawful decisions, acts or omissions

However, civil actions in common law and equity continue to play an important part in environmental law with, for example, the engagement of torts such as nuisance and negligence. This is perhaps unsurprising in a common law-based country where the judiciary has a central role in the constitution. It is also because some environmental issues fall outside the regulatory regimes: see for example the statutory nuisance regime that only covers those environmental nuisances listed within Part 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990). Also, a claimant may be seeking compensation for harm or damage already suffered and such payment is not available under the statutory systems.

Moreover, injunctions (whether interlocutory, mandatory or prohibitory) that are available