In a monumental victory for Save Windermere, United Utilities (UU) has withdrawn their appeals to the First-Tier Tribunal, where they argued that the Information Commissioner (ICO) was wrong in in their decision telling them to release environmental information to the campaign. They have also subsequently released the environmental data they had been fighting to withhold from the public. Save Windermere, as a second respondent in this case, worked tirelessly alongside esteemed barristers Nicholas Ostrowski and Samual Glanville, who provided pro-bono legal guidance.

The full statement can be read here 

Since the decision, United Utilities has communicated readily with the campaign. In addition to releasing the appeal information, they have also provided a significant amount of additional data we had previously requested. We commend this new approach by UU and the leadership decisions that led to this increased transparency about how their activities impact England's largest lake.

While we are encouraged by this outcome, we cannot ignore that it took years of persistent campaigning to achieve it, including countless complaints to the ICO, national media coverage and even the imposition of a special enforcement measure on United Utilities by the ICO – the foundations for which were laid by Save Windermere – making them the first water company in the UK to receive one.

We hope United Utilities will continue this newfound commitment to transparency and make strides in collecting more comprehensive data to fully assess their impact on Windermere. Should the need arise, Save Windermere will not hesitate to fight for transparency again.

A big thanks to Jon Ungoed-Thomas at the Observer for covering this story.