Fish Legal forces Government back to court for second time as failure to act leaves polluted river in decline for decades

In a second blow to the government’s approach to river pollution within a week, a river once famed for its trout fishing has become the focus of a second High Court intervention, after the government admitted it still had not acted lawfully to address pollution first identified nearly 20 years ago.

Fish Legal have secured a new High Court consent order quashing the government’s plans for the Upper Costa Beck in North Yorkshire, after the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Environment Agency accepted that their court-mandated revised approach still did not meet legal requirements.

News of the ruling comes days after the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) confirmed that the Water Framework Directive requires specific, river by river plans nationwide, and warned of possible ongoing failures by government to comply with the law. The OEP explicitly referenced the Costa Beck case.

The Upper Costa Beck is a spring-fed stream that was once widely regarded as one of the finest trout rivers in the north of England. Its decline has been documented for nearly 20 years, linked to pollution pressures including sewage discharges and other upstream impacts. Despite repeated investigations and years of evidence, effective restoration action has repeatedly been deferred.

In an earlier action, upheld by the Court of Appeal, the courts ruled that river protection plans must include specific, practical actions for individual rivers, not vague or generic measures. Despite that clear ruling, the government approved a revised plan which again failed to identify concrete steps to restore the Upper Costa Beck.

Rather than contest the case, the government accepted that the plan was unlawful. The High Court has now quashed it and ordered the Environment Agency to redo the programme of measures for the river for a second time.

“This is a simple story,” said Zoe Wedderburn-Day, Head of Policy and Strategy at Fish Legal. “The government lost in court, said it had fixed the problem, and then had to be taken back to court because it hadn’t.”

She said the case helps explain why so many rivers remain in poor condition despite strong environmental laws on paper.

“People know about sewage in rivers and they know agricultural pollution is a problem,” Wedderburn-Day said. “What they may not see is how often real action is delayed, even after courts have stepped in. This case asks a simple question: do environmental laws mean anything if regulators ignore court rulings?”

She continued “The OEP’s recent announcement regarding the government’s suspected failings to comply with environmental law further justify the legal actions we have taken on behalf of Pickering Fishery Association.”

Under the new consent order, the Environment Agency must now produce a lawful, river specific plan for the Upper Costa Beck no later than June 5th 2026 with the Secretary of State required to approve it.
“The courts have been clear twice,” Wedderburn-Day added. “Now the regulator has to act. Delay is no longer an option.”

Why the Costa Beck case matters for ALL rivers