Environmental Law

Successful landmark post-Brexit environmental judicial review: our team won a landmark challenge of the Environment Agency’s approach to regulating water abstraction in Norfolk, thereby clarifying the role of European environmental law post-Brexit.

Securing water abstraction licences: our Team secured from the Environment Agency for our client multiple water abstraction licences notwithstanding the acknowledged associated risk to European nature conservation sites. We successfully negotiated with, and persuaded, the regulators that strict derogation tests were met.

Successfully defended a major construction business in relation to allegations of serious breaches of the Environmental Permitting Regulations. Our client was investigated by the Environment Agency on suspicion of having unlawfully deposited tens of thousands of tonnes of waste on a third party site. We assisted our client by leading an internal investigation, providing representation at an interview under caution, making legal representations to the EA and negotiating with third parties and the EA to find a resolution which avoided prosecution, civil claims, landfill tax and other liabilities.

Advised a national recycling business to secure end-of-waste status for a specific form a recycled aggregate. We worked with multiple technical consultants and a leading Environmental KC to produce a self-certification strategy for end-of-waste. The work addressed a long-standing area of uncertainty in which extensive studies and policy reviews by the EA had failed to deliver a sustainable outcome. We helped our client to manage enforcement activity in parallel with the development of a persuasive end-of-waste case which has the potential to take millions of tonnes of material outside of waste regulation each year.