Landowner Postel Properties is suing Sketchley, Johnsons Apparelmaster, and Safeway Stores plc in a dispute over alleged land contamination in Basingstoke.
The claimant, owner of units B and C in the West Ham Industrial Estate, is seeking an injunction banning tenant Sketchley from continuing to contaminate its land. It is also seeking damages from Sketchley and Johnsons for alleged nuisance and breach of contract at the nearby Thorneycroft Estate.
In addition, Safeway, which had purchased Thorneycroft from Postel in 1995, is facing a claim for damages for the cost of remedial works on the properties, and an order authorising Postel to sue in its name.
Since 1978, Johnsons has allegedly accumulated substantial quantities of the dry-cleaning agent tetrachloroethane (PCE) for use in its commercial laundry business. Postel maintains that the harmful chemical was retained in unit C with Sketchley’s permission, even when the latter company was not in occupation.
In July 1995, prior to the sale of the Thorneycroft site to Safeway, a survey, environmental audit and soil investigation revealed unacceptable levels of soil and groundwater contamination, mainly derived from PCE. Postel agreed to pay the cost of remedial works.
Safeway subsequently developed the site as a supermarket. However, in 1998, sharp increases in PCE concentrations meant that the site did not meet Environment Agency requirements. A report concluded that contamination in the groundwater below the West Ham site was migrating to the Thorneycroft site.
Although Sketchley and Johnson have replaced the PCE tank and carried out repairs, Postel argues that they have not undertaken works to remedy the soil contamination beneath the site, and that, as a result of the nuisance, they are in breach of their lease. It claims that it has paid more than £400,000 to indemnify Safeway for the costs of remedial works. It also contends that the value of the reversion of its unit C lease has been diminished, and that the unit requires repairs costing between £100,000 and £750,000.
The company is seeking an injunction banning the continued storage of PCE at the West Ham site, damages for breach of covenant, representing the cost of abating and remedying the nuisance, plus general damages.
References: PLS News 19/8/03
