In November 2023, Fish Legal and the Pickering Fishing Association won their High Court case against the Government and the EA. The Court ruled that they had failed in their mandatory legal duties to review, update and put in place measures to restore rivers and other water bodies under the Water Framework Directive Regulations.
Check out the Fish Legal web news item for more detail on the case.
Whilst the Costa Beck was the river in the case, the ruling has huge implications for all rivers in England, which is no doubt why the Government and the EA are taking the case to appeal.
Martin Smith, Secretary of Pickering Fishery Association, said:
“We never thought that our angling club would be at the centre of a nationally important legal case. But it is now obvious that the Environment Agency’s reluctance to tackle chronic pollution from a water company and other business on the Costa Beck is the same across the country.”
