A millionaire property tycoon is suing Britain’s biggest water company for more than £1 million at the High Court, claiming United Utilities stood by and protected its own land while a catastrophic moorland fire engulfed his neighbouring estate, destroying hundreds of acres of conservation work and prized red grouse breeding grounds.
David Livesey, the former chief executive of estate agency giant Connells Group, alleges the utility company had the manpower and specialist equipment needed to stop the blaze from spreading to his 300-acre Lords Hall Estate in Lancashire but chose to focus its firefighting resources on its own property, leaving his land to burn.
The fire broke out on the evening of 30 May 2020 after two men, Jack Birtwistle and Henry Clark, lit a disposable barbecue on Darwen Moor during exceptionally dry conditions. Harry Wright, representing Mr Livesey, told Judge Charles Bagot KC that a 999 call was made by the men at 6.46pm after the barbecue ignited dry vegetation and the fire began to spread. The blaze burned for seven days, stretching across three miles of moorland, and ultimately ravaged 630 acres of land designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Livesey had purchased the estate in 2017 as both a conservation project and sporting estate, and had invested heavily in habitat restoration before the fire. “He had done a great deal of restoration and conservation work, like planting thousands of native plants, and rewetting the moor with hundreds of dams and pools,” Wright told the court. “Most of this work was destroyed in the fire.” In a statement submitted to Blackburn Council, Livesey said that “millions of small animals, mammals, invertebrates, frogs etc… perished,” along with around 300 red grouse nests containing an estimated 1,200 young birds of significant financial value as future breeding stock.
Wright argued the disaster was entirely preventable. “The fire would not have harmed Mr Livesey’s property if United Utilities had not permitted its land to become a tinderbox,” he said, accusing the company of taking “no firefighting on the north flank of the fire” that spread to his client’s land. “United Utilities had extensive firefighting resources which it could and should have deployed to protect Mr Livesey’s land, as well as its own. It failed to do so. The reality is that, one way or another, United Utilities chose to protect its own property, not Mr Livesey’s. It must live with the consequences of its actions.”
United Utilities is contesting the claim in its entirety. Brooke Lyne, representing the company, told the court its primary position was that it was not legally an occupier of Darwen Moor at all, as the relevant areas were subject to agricultural tenancies. She also argued that firefighting decisions during the blaze were made by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, not United Utilities, and that the company’s personnel provided assistance at the direction of the fire service. On the suggestion that United Utilities should have required visitors to the moor to formally agree not to light fires, Lyne was dismissive. “The Darwen Moor is a substantial area of moorland with hundreds of public rights of way running through it — the idea that the defendant could require every member of public to enter into an agreement of this sort, particularly during a pandemic, is absurd.”
Birtwistle and Clark, both 25 at the time of the fire, later received conditional cautions at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court and were ordered to complete 150 hours of restoration work on the damaged moorland, including removing burnt fencing and footbridges, repairing dry stone walls and planting rare native species. The High Court hearing continues.
