Holding back the tide: An exploration of the possible legal basis for a claim of a right to be protected from flooding

Bean, Emma; Staddon, Chad; Appleby, Thomas

Abstract

As there is no general right to be defended from flooding, any measures taken to protect communities from flooding would appear to be motivated by political considerations. This article explores the possibilities open to a party seeking to benefit from flood defences on another person’s land. The possibilities include an action in nuisance (which is the most promising area, but is still beset by issues of causation and the possibility that the extent of the duty imposed on a defendant landowner is not by any means certain to extend to the actual repair of existing flood defences) and an attempt to establish prescriptive liability. Other avenues of legal recourse are more fraught and therefore less likely to prove useful here. The article concludes that the possibilities covered are of limited value in most cases and suggests that an alternative approach to flood defences might be used to achieve wider acceptance of the need for more sustainable flood planning in the future.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 8, 2016
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 10, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 31, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Water Law
• Print ISSN: 1478-5277
• Publisher: Lawtext Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 61-68
• Keywords: flooding, flood defence, duty of care, negligence, nuisance, prescription
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/908732
• Publisher URL: http://www.lawtext.com/lawtextweb/default.jsp?PageID=2
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the author-produced PDF of an article, accepted for publication in Journal of Water Law, following peer review. The Version of Record Bean, E., Staddon, C. and Appleby, T. (2016) Holding back the tide: An exploration of the possible legal basis for a claim of a right to be protected from flooding. Journal of Water Law, 25 (2). pp. 61-68 is available in Journal of Water Law, Vol 25, Iss 2. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.
• Contract Date: Nov 10, 2016