The Appeal Court’s decision last week is a victory for Allen Williamson, the director of Allensway Recycling Ltd which runs a waste composting facility at Prospect House Farm, Holme upon Spalding Moor.
Mr Williamson lives about a mile away, at Prospect House Farm, and was shocked when Environment Agency (EA) officers and police turned up at the property early in the morning of 17 May 2013.
A large number of documents were carried away by officers investigating Allensway Recycling. The company was one of the targets of a wide-ranging inquiry into alleged “unauthorised waste activities”, Lord Justice Richards told the court.
Warrant
The Agency had obtained a warrant from Leeds magistrates, but Mr Williamson was given no prior notice of what was to happen.
It was claimed by the Agency that Mr Williamson had been “confrontational, aggressive and uncooperate” in the past, although he strongly denied that.
The EA argued that he was unlikely to submit to a search voluntarily and, if notice of the raid had been given, there was a real risk that evidence would be removed or destroyed.
However, upholding Mr Williamson’s judicial review challenge, Lord Justice Richards said the EA had no right to carry out the surprise raid on his home.
The law was clear that, even after obtaining a warrant, the EA was obliged to give him seven days-notice before invading his residence.
The judge, sitting with Sir James Munby and Lord Justice Floyd, said Parliament had decreed “special protection” for people’s homes.
And he ruled that it would be wrong for the court to “water down” those rights.
letsrecycle.com has contacted both the Environment Agency and Mr Williamson for comment following the ruling, but has yet to receive a response from either at the time of writing.
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