The Supreme Court is set to rule next week in the long-running dispute between water company United Utilities and the Manchester Ship Canal Company.
The court is set to rule on whether the MSCC can bring a private law case for nuisance and/or trespass against UU for its unauthorised discharges of untreated foul water in the canal, a 36-mile long waterway that links Manchester to the Irish Sea.
MSCC is the owner of the canal. UU is the sewerage undertaker for the North West of England.
“This is the latest in a line of recent Supreme Court judgments which have reshaped the law of nuisance, and could further expand the scope of private nuisance claims, or at least clarify how public and private law rights intersect,” said Lucy Redman, a senior knowledge lawyer at law firm Hogan Lovells International LLP.
“The quality of our waterways is a hot topic going into the election, so its impact may also be felt more widely,” she said.
“United Utilities successfully argued in the High Court and the Court of Appeal that only the regulator, Ofwat, can take enforcement action under the Water Act 1991, but Manchester Ship Canal has appealed to the Supreme Court.”
The case was heard over two days in March last year in front of Supreme Court judges Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Lloyd–Jones, Lord Burrows, Lord Stephens, Lady Rose and Lord Richards.
Their ruling will be handed down on 2 July.
The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd (Appellant) v United Utilities Water Ltd (Respondent) No 2
