Good morning. Jolyon has lost again. Over the weekend the High Court threw out claims that the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is unlawful, after a challenge was brought forward by the Marine Conservation Society, WildFish, and of course, the Good Law Project. The judge dismissed the claims on the grounds that “it is not for the court to assess the merits of the policies in the plan” – in other words, ‘stop using the courts for political means’. As usual…

Government sources point out Defra’s plan actually goes further than the existing law in terms of reducing sewage dumping… so making a legal claim would have been difficult. While Jolyon has described his latest failure as “hard to stomach“, the GLP say they’re “unlikely to appeal the decision“. Wouldn’t want to drop another stinker…