A landmark ruling on Catfield Fen

In a judgment delivered this month, Lady Justice Lieven found that Natural England failed in its statutory duty to protect Catfield Fen from pollution. According to the ruling, nitrates and phosphates from arable fields ended up in the fen, a site described as among the finest examples of calcareous fen in western Europe.

• •The judge said stopping the pollution required "the most basic level of common sense".
• •She criticised the agency for failing to act in the years since the Harrises raised the alarm about the pollution in 2021.
• •The fen holds protected wetland status under law as part of a special area of conservation, and sits inside the Broads national park.
• •Some 2,500 species live there, among them rarities: the fen orchid, crested buckler fern, breeding bittern and swallowtail butterflies.

Three wins and £1.5m spent

The ruling completes a hat-trick for the couple, who have spent 15 years and £1.5m of their own money taking government agencies to task over the fen. In 2016 they won a public inquiry that demonstrated that too much groundwater was being taken from the valley, with excessive abstraction by water companies and local farmers drying the fen out. In 2022 they won a second battle, forcing the Environment Agency to limit water abstraction close to other nature-rich Norfolk Broads sites.

The couple behind the cases

Tim Harris held senior roles in the shipping industry before turning to environmental campaigning in retirement, while Geli grew up near the forests around Heidelberg, Germany - "She's the greenie," he says of her. The couple bought their farm, which came with a large chunk of Catfield Fen, in 1994. Since then they have converted arable fields to pasture and keep English white park cattle, sheep and rare-breed Eriskay ponies.

Their campaigning has not made them popular everywhere. National Farmers' Union representatives rejected their application for membership of the local branch, saying half their members would resign, amid farmer anger over water abstraction restrictions.

What happens next

Asked about the judgment, Natural England said it accepted the court's verdict that it had not done enough to protect Catfield Fen. The agency added that it would not comment while legal proceedings continue. The judge is to make further rulings on what the agency must do to stop the pollution of the fen.

The picture on the ground is mixed. Since the 2022 victory the Harrises have seen the water levels and biodiversity of the fen's dykes improve. But Tim says experts surveying this summer found insect numbers in decline, and the couple are very worried.

He argues that the judgment matters beyond Norfolk. "Inertia is prevalent throughout all the regulatory bodies. It's a landmark judgment because it says they can't just do nothing."