R (Mathew Richards): Fordham J gives judgment on state authorities’ combined Article 2 and Article 8 operational obligations in a pollution context

30 Sep 2021 By Antonia Fitzpatrick

R (Mathew Richards) v the Environment Agency (Walleys Quarry Limited, Interested Party) [2021] EWHC 2501 (Admin)

Ian Wise QC, Michael Armitage and Will Perry acted for Mathew Richards, instructed by Hopkin Murray Beskine. Antonia Fitzpatrick assisted on the case as a pupil.

References in square brackets are to paragraphs of the judgment.

The judgment is available here.

Overview

Fordham J handed down judgment in R (Mathew Richards) v the Environment Agency [2021] EWHC 2501 (Admin) on 16 September 2021, following an expedited, rolled up hearing on 18-20 August 2021. Richards is a landmark human rights case, concerning a vulnerable five-year-old boy’s Article 2 (right to life) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”), and his successful challenge to the Environment Agency (“EA”)’s failure to protect his respiratory health from being harmed by dangerous hydrogen sulphide emissions from a landfill, Walleys Quarry Landfill Site (“WQLS”), next to where he lives in Silverdale, Staffordshire.

Please click here to read the full case note.

The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

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