Who can join the claim?
As explained above, there are two categories of claimants who can join the claim:
- Those whose property rights are being affected; and
- Those whose public rights are being affected.
Individuals and businesses (where the business's profits have been reduced or property it owns/leases have been affected) are both potentially eligible to join the claim.
Those with affected property rights
To join the claim for a breach of your property rights, you must have permanently owned/leased a property or fishing/angling rights at some point from 2018. You are still eligible to join if you were impacted before 2018, and the impacts continued after 2018. However, if you stopped being impacted entirely before 2018, you are not eligible to join the claim at this stage.
In addition, to be eligible to claim for a breach of your property rights at this stage, one of the following must apply to you:
- You or your business must have owned/leased land within 100 meters of an affected river (i.e. the River Wye, the River Lugg, the River Usk, or any other tributary or watercourse in the region);
- You or your business must have owned/leased land or fishing or angling rights in an affected river;
- Your land or your business' land must have been: (i) located within 1,500m of an intensive poultry unit or sewerage infrastructure; and (ii) it must have been impacted in some way, such as by odour emanating from the intensive poultry unit or sewerage infrastructure.
Examples of clients falling under this category include:
- An individual’s home located along the River Wye;
- An individual with fishing rights in the River Usk;
- A pub located next to an intensive poultry unit whose business is being affected by the smell of the chickens; and
- A hotel located near a combined sewer overflow whose customers make complaints about the smell of sewage.
Those with affected public rights
To be eligible to bring a claim in relation to your public rights, you will need to demonstrate that you have been particularly affected by the pollution in the Rivers Wye, Lugg or Usk regions since 2018. You are still eligible to join if you were impacted before 2018, and the impacts continued after 2018. However, if you stopped being impacted entirely before 2018, you are not eligible to join the claim at this stage.
Examples of potential claimants include:
- An individual who has invested significant time and money into a riverside hobby but is no longer able to do that hobby because of the algal bloom or sewage discharging into the waterways.
- An individual who was a regular swimmer in the River Lugg but feels they are no longer able to swim because they are worried about the pollution.
- A camping site which has suffered a drop in bookings because of the widely publicised declining health of the River Wye.
An individual who used to regularly take their dog for a walk along the River Usk but is no longer able to because of fear that their dog will fall sick if it drinks the water.
Please note that the above is the eligibility criteria under which Leigh Day can currently enter into retainers with clients and is not legal advice. It does not necessarily mean that you do not have a valid legal claim and other law firms may be able to assist you depending on your individual circumstances.