Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co. Ltd.

Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd
Court	High Court of Justice
Full case name	Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd
Decided	1992
Citation(s)	[1992] 3 WLR 449, [1993] QB 343
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Buckley J

Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd [1993] QB 343 is a case in English tort law covering nuisance. The council granted planning permission to Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd to redevelop the Chatham Dockyard as a commercial port, noting that this would have some impact on local residents but authorising it because the economic benefit would far outweigh any potential noise problems. The port's activity called for a large number of heavy duty vehicles moving around the clock, and by 1988 there were almost 750 lorries using the port per day. The Borough Council brought an action against the dock company in public nuisance on behalf of its residents, and the case was heard by Buckley J in the High Court of Justice. Buckley, while rejecting the dock company's arguments that only illegal acts could be public nuisances and that the granting of planning permission authorised the nuisance, held that the dock's activities were not a public nuisance. This was because the commercial dock had significantly changed the character of the area, changing the definition of what was and was not unreasonable behaviour.