Network Rail hits buffers over Japanese Knotweed

A recent case involving Network Rail highlights the potentially costly effects of ignoring Japanese Knotweed and allowing it to grow unchecked.

Two neighbours took action after the plant, growing on a railway embankment next to their homes, spread into their properties, resulting the the values being almost halved. In this case the neighbours argued that the knotweed encroached on their homes which caused a nuisance and interfered with the quiet enjoyment of their property. In judgement at the crown  Network Rail were ordered to pay £4,320 to each claimant to treat the knotweed and in what is being seen as a key test case, awarded £10,000 each in compensation for the fall in value of their homes.

This has clear implications not only for Network Rail, who of course have innumerable neighbours, but also for all landowners, who should now be redoubling their efforts to identify and control any Japanese Knotweed on their land.