Alan Murdie - Environmental Law and Citizen Action

Volume 5

First published in 1993

This edition first published in 2009 by Earthscan

Copyright Alan Murdie, 1993

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-84971-006-0 (Volume 5)

ISBN 978-1-84971-001-5 (Environmentalism and Politics set)

ISBN 978-1-84407-930-8 (Earthscan Library Collection)

ISBN 978-0-415-84743-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-134-05973-7 (ePub)

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Earthscan

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First issued in paperback 2013

Earthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for

Publishers note

The publisher has made every effort to ensure the quality of this reprint, but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

At Earthscan we strive to minimize our environmental impacts and carbon footprint through reducing waste, recycling and offsetting our CO2 emissions, including those created through publication of this book.

Dedicated to my Grandparents
Mr Frederick Mann and Laura Mann (190464)
and
Mr Robert Murdie and Elsie Murdie (1905-92)

First published in 1993 by

Earthscan Publications Limited

120 Pentonville Road, London NI 9JN

Copyright Alan Murdie, 1993

All rights reserved

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 1 85383 156 5

Typeset by Meta Publishing Services, Southfields, London

Earthscan Publications Limited is an editorially independent subsidiary of Kogan Page Limited and publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Environmental law has become an increasingly important topic in recent years. Every week stories of controversial planning developments and prosecutions for the release of toxic substances feature in the news. Growing numbers of books and journals are devoted to explaining environmental law and seminars, conferences and courses on pollution control and the legal protection of the environment are held regularly. Usually these are designed for an audience comprised of business, industry and various governmental and professional interests. Welcome though these developments are, ordinary citizens have largely been left behind. All too often, the public have been relegated to the role of bystander, not included in the decision making process, even though they may be the people most directly affected by environmental problems. Few publications and events have been aimed at informing the ordinary citizen about environmental law and the new environmental rights which have come into existence in recent years for the benefit of individual citizens. As a result most people remain unaware of their rights, and trying to obtain information on environmental law in the UK remains an exceedingly difficult task for ordinary citizens. This is despite the fact that probably more people than ever before are now seeking such information.

This is an unsatisfactory situation for two reasons. Firstly, although it maybe trite to say, the environment affects everyone and legal information should not be monopolised by a relatively small number of groups and individuals. Secondly, it has been the concern shown by public opinion and pressure which has brought many pieces of legislation onto the statute book. Having put the environment onto the political agenda and into law, ordinary citizens should now be in a position to see their wishes put into practice.

It is hoped that this book may play some small part in supplying information on environmental matters to a wider public and make the legal system and the rights we enjoy more accessible to the ordinary person. Each of us has many more rights than may be popularly imagined, both to obtain information and to use the legal system to protect the environment. In my own view based on experience non-lawyers are fully capable of using the law and the legal system as effectively as many lawyers providing they have access to the right information. Providing such information and thus extending the choices available to the ordinary citizens concerned about the fate of their environment is what this book aims to do.

Many people seeking information on environmental lawwhether private citizens, students or even public officials often experience difficulty with specialist text books designed for professional lawyers. Such books while suitable for professionals and students, usually assume a background knowledge of the court system and legal procedure on the part of the reader. As a result such texts may seem almost incomprehensible to non-lawyers at first perusal. This book hopefully supplies some of this vital background information which lawyers may take for granted but which is crucial for understanding and for practical use of the system by the non-lawyer. With recent suggestion in May 1993 to reduce the numbers of people employed by the Government in pollution control, the role of the citizen in enforcing environmental law may be of growing significance in the next few years.

Apart from the ordinary citizen seeking preliminary information on a specific environmental topic, it is hoped that it may be of use to enforcement officers taking pollution cases to court who often feel themselves to be at the mercy of defence lawyers and the formalities of court, and also for busy solicitors and advisers already burdened with heavy work loads. It is also hoped that it will be of assistance to the busy professional in the environmental field who does not have the time to study law or the resources to afford a lawyer on every point that may arise.

Because of the breadth of the subject, each of the topics mentioned can only be approached in outline. Such is the size of the field that in many areas this book can provide no more than a pointer to finding further sources of information. As with any other books, the selection of material reflects the perceptions, concerns and priorities of the author, and some areas, such as legislation covering the control of radioactive substances have been omitted entirely. Whole books could be devoted to almost all the topics discussed, and it is hoped that many such works may appear in the future.