Archived press release

Court victory on sewage hotspots

14 September 2005

Environmentalists claimed a victory at the High Court in Belfast today as a Judge gave leave for a Judicial Review of a Government policy that results in tonnes of raw and poorly treated sewage being dumped in Northern Ireland's seas, rivers and lakes. [1] Friends of the Earth argued that the policy of allowing new housing developments to connect to the public sewer where sewage treatment is inadequate or non-existent, known as sewage 'hotspots', is unlawful. [2].

John Woods, Friends of the Earth's Northern Ireland Director, said

"This is a very clear signal to the Departments of Regional Development and the Environment that Friends of the Earth has a strong case. Government should now concentrate its efforts not on fighting this court case but on finding ways of protecting the environment from further pollution. The European Commission has already told them their actions are unlawful. It beggars belief that Ministers Woodward and Rooker and their senior Civil Servants should waste time and public money in defending the indefensible."

Friends of the Earth says it is not seeking to halt all development and suggests that developers be required to install small sewage works, or package plants, as part of new housing developments. Such plants could be removed, and the housing connected to the mains, when the sewage infrastructure is brought up to legal standards. Interestingly, some developers have already proposed installing package plants [3].

The Judicial Review is the culmination of a prolonged campaign to persuade the two government Departments to review their policy of allowing development in 57 sewage 'hotspots' across Northern Ireland. The legal action is directed against Water Service [4] but the policy originally emanates from a decision by Assembly Ministers in October 2002.

John Woods continued,

"These are curious times when developers are more willing to take measures to protect the environment than Government is prepared to contemplate. This court case should ensure this patently untenable situation will not be sustained for much longer."

A unique feature of this Judicial Review application is the parallel application to the Court for a Protective Costs Order. This would mean that if Friends of the Earth were to ultimately lose the case, the costs claimed by Government would be limited to an amount the organisation could afford. This would be a first for Northern Ireland and would set a valuable precedent in allowing full access to justice for organisations and groups with limited means. A hearing on this issue will be held next week.

John Woods commented,

"Access to justice should not just be the preserve of large companies and government bodies. Small organisations, acting in the interests of the public, should have equal access and that means making the law more affordable. The biggest barrier to access to justice is the risk of having to pay unquantifiable and potentially astronomic costs to the other side."

Friends of the Earth's case was presented in court by John Larkin QC and David Scoffield BL. Counsel for Water Service offered no resistance to the leave application.

Notes

[1] Examples of the environmental damage being caused and cited in Friends of the Earth's submission to the Court include: Raw sewage from Bangor's 60,000 residents is discharged straight into Belfast Lough; Omagh sewage works is grossly overloaded and was responsible for a major pollution incident in the river Strule that killed hundreds of salmon; and Lough Neagh is the most polluted large lake on the island of Ireland. Whilst this is largely due to agriculture, it is exacerbated by poorly treated sewage from towns such as Antrim, Armagh, Ballyclare, Cookstown, Portadown and Tandragee.

[2] The complete list of 57 'hotspots' was published by DOE in October 2002. Copies are available from Friends of the Earth.

[3] At recent planning appeal hearings, developers offered to install package plants. The Planning Appeals Commission has also expressed serious concerns about the legality of current policy and has imposed conditions requiring the installation of discrete sewage plants for a number of new developments.

[4] Applications for connections to the sewage system are made to Water Service who have a broad discretion whether or not to grant new connections. Friends of the Earth wrote to Water Service on 18 May 2005 asking for an assurance that Water Service would not allow further connections to be made where to do so would increase the non-compliance with European law and would increase environmental harm. Water Service replied on 13 June 2005 refusing to give any such assurance.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: [email protected]

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust