The High Court has given permission for a hearing to take place on whether the government’s plan for reducing sewage dumping is too lenient in what could potentially be “the most consequential environmental law case in recent history” according to the non-profit supporting the case, reported in New Civil Engineer.

Defra released the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan in August 2022 following mounting public and political pressure relating to the levels of sewage dumping in beaches and watercourses around the UK.

Defra’s plan ordered water companies to spend £56bn on improving their sewage discharge systems, calling it the “largest infrastructure project to restore the environment in water company history”.

It gave the water companies until 2035 to improve all overflows discharging into or near designated bathing sites and 75% of overflows discharging into high priority sites. However, it put in place no restriction on dumping elsewhere until 2050. It states that by 2050 no overflows will be permitted to cause any “adverse ecological harm” nor to discharge outside of unusually heavy rainfall.

These targets are considered too lenient by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), Richard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist Hugo Tagholm, who have brought the case to the High Court with support from the Good Law Project. They say it will allow water companies to continue dumping sewage into rivers and coastal waters for another three decades.

Permission to proceed with this case is an important milestone

Back in November 2022, the MCS joined as a co-claimant in the Good Law project’s legal case. In a statement at the time MCS said “We’re taking legal action against the UK Government as a result of their failure to address the sewage pollution scandal facing English shores. 

We are suing the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for not taking effective action on sewage pollution entering our seas. We’ve not taken this step lightly.”

The High Court has now given permission for a hearing against secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs Thérèse Coffey. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.

Marine Conservation Society chief executive Sandy Luk said: “Being granted permission to proceed with this case is an important milestone in achieving our vision for a cleaner, better protected and healthier ocean.”