Veronica Cowan looks at a recent decision on the weed that never dies
- Covers Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council, a claim for diminution of value caused by Japanese knotweed.
- Davies is a warning to landowners they could be liable for losses previously considered irrecoverable, where there is a residual diminution in value, treatment has already occurred and there has been encroachment.
An important legal victory in Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 80, [2023] All ER (D) 29 (Feb) has raised the knotweed stakes. Davies sued the local authority, alleging the value of his home had been diminished by Japanese knotweed spreading from a nearby council-owned cycle track to his garden. He claimed not to have known the creeping plant was invading his property in 2017, whereas the council knew about it in 2013, but only took action in 2018.
The council accepted its breach of duty during that time, and at first instance, the district judge—citing the earlier case of Williams v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd; Waistell v Network Rail Infrastructure
