Private nuisance and the character of the neighbourhood

Ray v Windrush Riverside Properties Ltd [2022] EWHC 2210 (TCC)

In Ray v Windrush Riverside Properties Ltd [2022] EWHC 2210 (TCC), HH Judge Russen QC, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, held that the claimant was not entitled to an injunction to restrain what was said to be a private nuisance committed by the defendant as a result of the noise and the smells which emanated from the property which it owned. Having regard to the character of the locality in which the claimant lived, it could not be said that the defendant had caused an interference with the claimant’s reasonable enjoyment of her land, particularly given the fact that the claimant was not in personal occupation of the property said to be affected. Had he found that the defendant had committed a nuisance, the Judge would not have granted to the claimant the mandatory injunction which she sought and indeed would not have granted injunctive relief going beyond the undertakings which the defendant had already offered to the court. In relation to the claim for damages, he would have awarded damages in the region of £11,000, a sum much lower than that sought by the claimant.