Contaminated Land – House Of Lords Decision

The House of Lords has unanimously rejected the Environment Agency’s contentions that National Grid Gas plc ("NGG") (formerly Transco) should be liable under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 ("EPA 1990") for the remediation of a former public gasworks site. The firm conclusion of the judgment is that NGG could not be considered an appropriate person for the purposes of funding remediation.

Judgment was handed down on 27 June 2007 in the case of R (on the application of National Grid Gas plc (formerly Transco plc)) (Appellants) v Environment Agency (Respondents). The High Court judgment had held in favour of the Environment Agency and the appeal went directly to the House of Lords by way of the leapfrog procedure.