The widow of Tiny Rowland has failed in her Court of Appeal attempt to retain the privacy of her Thamesside house.
Josie Rowland, who owns the Hedsor Wharf Estate, near Maidenhead, brought the privacy claim after the Environment Agency granted public navigation rights over a stretch of the river that had mistakenly been treated as private for more than a century. She claimed that her “right to respect for her personal privacy and home” and “the peaceful enjoyment of her property” were being violated.
In the High Court, Lightman J held that it was unreasonable for the Rowlands to have founded an expectation that the public would always be excluded from sailing on the water, based solely upon the word of a lock-keeper and without making further enquiries.
He backed the agency’s decision, stating that to give effect to the appellant’s wishes “would gravely prejudice the interests of the public entitled to exercise public rights of navigation over Hedsor Water”.
Dismissing the appeal, Peter Gibson LJ said: “It was inevitable that once the respondent was aware that it had made a mistake in allowing Hedsor Water to be treated as a private water, it, as the guardian of navigation in the Thames, should resile from its previous stance.
“Courts should be slow permanently to fix a public authority with the consequences of a mistake, particularly when it would deprive the public of its rights.”
The judge said that the respondent had rightly considered Rowland’s wish to retain her privacy, and agreed that it should minimise the effect of its decision by not promoting public use of that stretch of the river. To protect Rowland to this extent, he made a formal declaration that, when exercising its statutory functions, the agency must take into account the common assumption that, prior to November 2000, Hedsor Water had been private.
Rowland v Environment Agency Court of Appeal (Peter Gibson, May and Mance LJJ) 19 December 2003.
Lord Lester QC of Herne Hill and Robert Howe (instructed by CMS Cameron McKenna) appeared for the appellant; Peter Village QC and Lisa Busch (instructed by Clarks, of Reading) appeared for the respondent.
Linked to: Tiny Rowland’s widow pursues privacy claim; Tiny Rowland’s widow fails in privacy dispute; Tiny Rowland’s widow seeks privacy declaration
References: EGi Legal News 22/12/03
