Friday 9 May 2008

The report, Ensuring Access to Justice in England and Wales, was compiled by a Working Group on which WWF sits, and which is chaired by the Hon Mr Justice Sullivan. The Working Group examined whether current law and practice prevents concerned individuals and groups from achieving access to justice in environmental matters. It also made recommendations where such barriers exist.

The report concludes that for the significant majority of the public and NGOs, current rules about costs – and particularly the potential exposure to costs if an application should fail – are not consistent with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. Among its aims, this Convention seeks to ensure that the public, including organisations, are able to access effective judicial mechanisms in a way that is 'fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive'.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the Hon Mr Justice Sullivan said: "We should not be complacent. While the Administrative Court is capable of dealing effectively with environmental law challenges, that is of limited practical value in protecting the environment if only the very rich or the very poor can afford to use the Court's procedures. If the problems identified in this report are not addressed it will not be long before the UK is taken to task for failing to live up to its obligations under the Aarhus Convention."

The report comes at a time when the UK's compliance on 'prohibitive costs' is under investigation. It highlights UK cases in which concerned citizens have risked significant personal financial loss to challenge important points of public principle. In 2001, Mrs Shirley of the Canterbury Green Party was faced with a claim for over £100,000 for a one day hearing concerning alleged breaches of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive in the approval of an out of town college.

In a recent case in the West Country, local resident Francis Morgan was advised that judicially reviewing his local council's decision to grant planning permission for the disposal of waste 300 metres from his home might expose him to legal costs in excess of £50,000.

Carol Hatton, a solicitor for WWF, who heads our work on access to environmental justice, said: "The current system in the UK makes it almost impossible to take environmental court action without the threat of losing your home or exposing your organisation to unacceptable risk. The present system means that the environment will continue to be the victim and no one can afford to protect it."