Roger Brookhouse & Anor v The Environment Agency
[2023] UKUT 282 (LC)
John Bland Charlton & Anor v Northumbrian Water Limited
25 November 2022
[2022] UKUT 313 (LC)
Upper Tribunal
Farmers sued a water company because a nearby sewage plant lowered their property value. The court said the water company wasn't responsible because the problem wasn't physical damage to the farm, only a change in how people viewed it.
Key Facts
- •Claimants sought compensation for depreciation in the value of their property (Bleach Green Farm) due to the construction of a nearby underground sewage reservoir by the respondent.
- •The reservoir was built on neighboring land, approximately 20m from the claimants' boundary.
- •The claimants' claim was not for damage caused by the construction but for diminution in value due to the reservoir's presence and use.
- •The diminution in value was alleged to be caused by perceived industrialization of the access track and purchaser anxieties about odors and potential flooding.
- •The claim was made under paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 of the Water Industry Act 1991.
- •The preliminary issue was whether compensation for diminution in value, caused not by the installation but by the continued presence and use of the reservoir, is recoverable under the Act.
Legal Principles
Meaning of "injurious affection" as developed through case law in the context of section 10 of the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965.
Clift v Welsh Office [1999] 1 WLR 796, CA
Compensation under paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 12 to the Water Industry Act 1991 for damage to, or injurious affection of, land not directly affected by pipe-laying works.
Water Industry Act 1991, Schedule 12, paragraph 2(3)
Statutory interpretation: if a word or phrase has a technical meaning in a certain branch of law, it is to be given that meaning unless a contrary intention appears.
Bennion, Bailey and Norbury on Statutory Interpretation 22.5
Landowners are entitled to reasonable use of their land, and such use, unless tortious, does not give rise to a claim for compensation.
Wildtree Hotels Ltd v Harrow LBC [2001] 2 AC 1
Outcomes
The preliminary issue was determined against the claimants.
"Injurious affection" in paragraph 2(3) of the WIA 1991 has the same meaning as in section 10 of the 1965 Act. The claim for diminution in value due to intangible factors (perceptions of purchasers) is not recoverable under 'damage to...any land' in paragraph 2(3). The court determined that 'damage' in this context refers to physical damage or physical factors affecting the land.