More than 150 households in Hertfordshire’s Vicarage Estate, near the Westmill 2 landfill site near Ware, say they were treated to the sickly odour of stale bins between July 2004 and October 2009 and are suing Biffa Waste Services Ltd for substantial damages.
However, Biffa says many of the individual claims do not stack up and that the company should in any case not be held legally liable for the reasonable and non-negligent operation of a landfill site in accordance with a detailed environmental permit.
The case, involving 152 households, is being spearheaded by retired Derrick Barr, who kept a detailed diary of smell emissions from the site.
He says the “sickly stench” was particularly bad in the summer months and was sometimes so disgusting that he had to keep the windows and doors of his home tightly shut. He and his wife often felt unable to venture into their garden and were too embarrassed to ask guests round.
Stephen Tromans QC, for the home owners, said the fact that the site was being run subject to an official permit provided Biffa with no complete defence to their nuisance claims.
‘Reasonable’
However, Ian Croxford QC, for Biffa, said allegations of negligence against the company had been abandoned before the case came to the High Court, where a judge ruled the use of the landfill site was “reasonable”.
Mr Justice Coulson said in his ruling last year: “I consider that…the permitted use of Westmill 2 as a landfill site meant that the carrying out of permitted activities of waste disposal, performed in accordance with the detailed terms of the permit and without negligence, amounted to a reasonable use of land”.
The home owners’ Appeal Court challenge to that ruling is now being heard by Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Carnwath and Lord Justice Patten. The hearing is expected to last three days.
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