Planning permissions and nuisance law

Private civil actions for nuisance can provide a powerful remedy against polluting activities, but an important question of law concerns the extent to which the grant of planning permission for a development provides a good defence to any subsequent action for nuisance. The conventional wisdom was that it did not, but recent case law has brought a good deal of confusion to the area. The Court of Appeal has now provided a new decision on the issue which clarifies the situation, and helps re-establish the role of the nuisance action.