Dermot Speight & Ors (as trustees of the Thornaby Angling Association) v Robert James Pickersgill

Facts

The Thornaby Angling Association ("TAA"), one of the largest and oldest angling associations in the region with some 650 members, holds fishing rights over stretches of the River Tees derived from a conveyance dated 06 May 1949, registered as a freehold profit à prendre in gross. Those rights extend over land at Dalton Woods owned by the defendant, Mr Pickersgill, on the Yorkshire Bank, including Dalton Batts island and the "South Channel" running between the island and the bank, together with a right to pass and repass along the riverbank for fishing purposes. Mr Pickersgill's land is also used by the Croft Trials Club for motorcycle trials riding and practice, an activity the judge found had taken place there since the mid 1970s. The trustees of the TAA sued, alleging interference with their rights under four heads: blocking of a stile in the boundary fence on adjoining Woodland Trust land (the Stile Claims); erosion and gullies on the riverbank (the State of the Riverbank Claims); noise, fumes and confrontation from trials riders (the Conduct of CTC Members Claims); and works to a causeway across the South Channel which restricted water flow (the Causeway Claims). Proceedings were issued in the County Court at Middlesbrough in September 2022 and transferred to Newcastle.