Cambridge Water Company v Eastern Counties Leather
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 23 October 1991 |
| Date | 23 October 1991 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Queen's Bench Division
Land - storage of organochlorines - "natural use" of land
The storage of organochlorines by firms involved in the tanning industry and based in an industrial village was a natural use of land for the purpose of the application of the rule in Rylands v FletcherELR ((1868) LR 3 HL 330).
Mr Justice Ian Kennedy so held in the Queen's Bench Division on July 31 in rejecting claims arising from the pollution of a public water supply borehole at Sawston Mill brought by Cambridge Water Company Ltd against Eastern Counties Leather plc and Hutchings and Harding Ltd
MR JUSTICE IAN KENNEDY said that the rigours of the rule in Rylands v Fletcher had been mitigated with the passing years by giving a more liberal interpretation to the words "natural user".
It was necessary to consider whether the storage of organochlorines as an adjunct to a manufacturing process created special risks for adjacent occupiers and whether the activity was for the general benefit of the community. The magnitude of the storage and the geographical area in which it took place had to be considered.
Sawston was properly described as an...
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