The origins of most environmental law are based in nuisance and all the work we undertake either directly or indirectly relates to the law of nuisance.
The word has its origins in late middle English, in the sense if injury or hurt. From the French verb nuire, to hurt, and the Latin, nocere, 'to harm'. As a result the concept of harm is key to the interpretation of much of our environmental legislation.
In modern parlance, however, the definition has often come to mean something rather less than injury or harm, and as a result short dictionaries now talk of a person or thing causing inconvenience or annoyance. The OED uses many words such as, injury, hurt, harm, annoyance, anything obnoxious or annoying, unpleasant, disagreeable.
The word which most commonly conveys the colloquial meaning is, perhaps, 'annoying' or 'annoyance', but mere annoyance is rarely sufficient to describe a nuisance at law.
Several things can be considered statutory nuisances which local authorities have a duty to investigate and abate where confirmed. These include:
(a) premises in such a state;
(b) smoke emitted from premises;
(c) fumes or gases emitted from premises (only applies to private dwellings);
(d) dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises;
(e) accumulation or deposit;
(f) animal kept in such a place or manner;
(fa) insects emanating from relevant industrial, trade or business premises;
(fb) artificial light emitted from premises;
(g) noise emitted from premises;
(ga) noise from or caused by a vehicle, machinery or equipment in a street;
(h) any other matter declared by any enactment to be a statutory nuisance ….
If you require information, advice or an assessment of a nuisance please feel free to get in touch for an informal discussion.