Environment
R (Harris) v Natural England [2026] EWHC 2488 (Admin)
The Administrative Court ruled on the claimant’s application for judicial review against the defendant Natural England’s (NE’s) failure to protect Catfield Fen (the fen) pursuant to its duties under Reg 9(1) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 and Art 6(2) of the Habitats Directive. The case concerned the agricultural run-off, principally phosphates and nitrogen, from land owned by Mr Alston, entering the fen via land drains (‘grips’) cut by Norfolk County Council, causing eutrophication. The court rejected the claimant’s primary submission that NE was in breach from the moment it received notice of risk, finding this too mechanistic an approach that failed to recognise the regulator’s scope to determine appropriate steps, including investigation. However, the court held that NE had acted irrationally in failing to take further steps. NE had clear knowledge since 2021, and definitively from the February 2024 enforcement questionnaire, that phosphates and nitrogen were running off Mr Alston’s land, through grips cut by Norfolk County Council, into the fen, causing harm. The Directive does not require
