The effectiveness of the statutory nuisance procedure

This thesis critically examines the law and practice around the use of the Statutory Nuisance procedure under Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and its equivalent in Northern Ireland. This is a legal procedure that has been developed since the mid-nineteenth century. The aim is to consider its effective use by Councils in dealing with a wide range of housing and environmental problems raised by the hundreds of thousands of public complaints received every year. It also considers whether the courts help or hinder this. It reviews and analyses current legal issues including those arising from the meaning of “prejudicial to health” and “nuisance”, the interaction with other regulatory powers, and the impact of the Human Rights Act. As well as a detailed doctrinal analysis of the relevant legislation and case-law, the research includes online surveys with practitioners in the UK, and detailed interviews with practitioners across the UK and Ireland, which still uses a much earlier version of the same procedure. Interviews of lawyers and others with related expertise were also carried out. The research also reviews the handling of related complaints made to the relevant UK Local Government Ombudsmen in 2016-2020. This gives an insight into the degree of satisfaction with Councils’ use of the procedure. An analysis of the empirical data available is used to contrast what Councils say they do, and what is done in practice. This highlights the level of compliance with the three statutory duties contained in the procedure. The thesis includes recommendations to make the procedure more effective. Despite the age of this procedure and its widespread use, this is the first research that attempts to look at all the relevant strands.