New report claims environmental justice is unaffordable

Money doesn't grow on trees. Individuals can't afford environmental justice. Photo:jump.bounce.shout

A report launched today has concluded that the government must make legal action more affordable in environmental cases.

A Working Group, chaired by the Hon. Mr Justice Sullivan, examined whether current law and practice prevents concerned individuals and groups from achieving access to justice in environmental matters. It found that for the significant majority of the public and NGOs the current cost rules of are not consistent with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention.

The UK government ratified the International (Aarhus) Convention on citizens’ environmental rights back in February 2005. The third ‘pillar’ of the Convention seeks to ensure that effective judicial mechanisms are accessible to the public, including organisations, with regards to environmental concerns. Rights of access to justice include that effective remedies should not be ‘prohibitively expensive’.

The Working Group were made aware of cases in which individuals and NGOs were faced with very high potential costs orders, including a case where Friends of the Earth were served with a schedule of costs for over £100,000 for a one-day judicial review hearing, and cases in which concerned UK citizens have risked significant personal financial loss to challenge important points of public principle. In a recent case in the West Country, local resident Mr Francis Morgan was advised that judicially reviewing Bath and North East Somerset 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 some £50,000. Mr Morgan decided not to pursue the application on the basis that it was prohibitively expensive.

Carol Hatton, WWF’s solicitor, 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.’

Speaking at the launch of the report, the Hon. Mr Justice Sullivan, said: ‘For the ordinary citizen, neither wealthy nor impecunious, there can be no doubt that the Court’s procedures are prohibitively expensive. 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.’