Judge holds off decision call for judicial review of Ofwat's regulation of sewage discharges

Environmental activist group, Wild Justice, has been to court seeking permission for judicial review of what it considers to be Ofwat's failure to regulate sewage discharges.The judge, Mr Justice Bourne, reserved judgment and will revert with his decision on whether the challenge can proceed to a full judicial review.

In a web post following the hearing, Wild Justice criticised Ofwat for “casting around somewhat desperately to try to avoid public scrutiny of its actions” because of the ongoing Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) review. It reported: Ofwat suggested (only days before the hearing) that the commencement of an OEP investigation…should undermine the case for permission being granted for examination of Wild Justice’s legal challenge.

“The OEP wrote to the court in response to Ofwat’s skeleton argument and Charles Morgan (representing the OEP) appeared at the hearing to confirm that the functions of an OEP investigation, and any subsequent enforcement action, are quite distinct from the pursuit of a remedy via judicial review…Wild Justice is grateful to the OEP for taking immediate steps to clarify the relationship between the two parallel processes.”