Stephanie Bruce-Smith,

On 13 January 2023, the High Court held that the right to access Dartmoor Commons for ‘open-air recreation’ under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 did not include a right to camp there overnight. Many, including the National Parks Authority for Dartmoor (“the DNPA”), had long considered that such a right existed.

Stephanie Bruce-Smith,

The Torres Strait Islands, a group of islands situated between Australia and New Guinea, are home to one of the most vulnerable populations to the impact of climate change.

Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

The COP27 Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, which took place in the midst of conflict in Ukraine and an energy crisis, concluded in late November 2022 with a number of notable developments, despite the fact that the State parties failed to commit to phasing out fossil fuels. 

Charles Forrest,

Conservation Covenants under Part 7 of the Environment Act 2021 (“EA 2021”) came into force on 30 September 2022. 

Jeremy Phillips KC, Horatio Waller,

As a means of resolving environmental disputes, mediation can be shown to offer many really significant benefits to regulators, be they local authorities, the Environment Agency or central Government. 

Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

In my blogpost dated 23 September 2022, I analysed the judgment in Harris v The Environment Agency [2022] EWHC 2264 (Admin) of 6 September 2022, which illustrated the application of the EU Habitats Directive, and of European law more widely, post-Brexit.

Robert McCracken KC, Ned Westaway,

The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill that was introduced into Parliament on 22 September 2022 goes to Committee stage in the House of Commons next week.  The Bill is of enormous significance and will require careful scrutiny by Parliament.

Claire Nevin,

In April 2022, the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss (“the Assembly”) held its inaugural meeting in Dublin Castle. Since then, the Assembly, which is made up of 99 randomly-selected members of the public and an independent Chairperson, has been examining how the state can improve its response to biodiversity loss. On completion of its work in December 2022, the Assembly will present a report and recommendations to the Houses of the Oireachtas (the Irish Parliament).

Esther Drabkin-Reiter,

On 18 October 2022, a reserved judgment was handed down by Mr Justice Bourne refusing permission to apply for judicial review in a claim issued by Wild Justice against the Water Services Regulation Authority (“Ofwat”), following an oral permission hearing on 27 September 2022.

Brendan Brett,

The discharge of considerable quantities of untreated sewage into rivers and coastal waters, has, understandably, caused outrage in recent months in England and Wales.

On 6 June 2022, the Climate Change Bill (No. 2), passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2022, was granted royal assent. Northern Ireland had finally enacted its own climate change statute after discussing the need for such a statute for over a decade.

Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

Johnson J has handed down judgment in Harris v The Environment Agency [2022] EWHC 2264 (Admin). The judgment illustrates the application of the EU Habitats Directive, and of European law more widely, post-Brexit. 

Michael Feeney,

After one of the driest summers on record, 11 of the 14 Environment Agency (“EA”) areas in England are now in drought. As the EA has explained on its website, this change in status ‘does not automatically trigger actions itself, but moving to drought status means that the Environment Agency and water companies will step up their actions to manage the impacts and press ahead with implementing the stages of their pre-agreed drought plans.’

Jonathan Welch,

The magnitude of the issue of climate change is reflected in its ever-increasing invocation and appearance in litigation across diverse jurisdictions, and its frequent reference in legislation and administrative decisions as a material consideration. 

There is growing interest in the concept of ‘rights of nature’ and the legal possibilities it offers as a means of protecting the natural world when regulatory efforts fail. In a practical and legal sense, this is centred on the premise that nature has the right to defend itself in a court of law against harms.

Merrow Golden,

In what has been described as a “landmark ruling”, the High Court has held that the Net Zero Strategy 2021 (“NZS”) was unlawful due to a failure by the Secretary of State to comply with sections 13 and 14 of the Climate Change Act 2008 (“CCA 2008”).

Michael Feeney,

On June 23rd the Office for Environmental Protection (“OEP”) published its first Strategy and Enforcement Policy. 

Flora Curtis,

This article seeks to outline some of the potential implications the UK Government’s new Bill of Rights Bill (“the Bill”), introduced in Parliament on 22 June 2022, on human rights as they relate to the environment.

Jonathan Welch,

ESG has become a much mused over acronym in recent years, but what does it mean? In this short post I intend to sketch a few introductory remarks with a focus on why the topic may be of interest to environmental lawyers. What follows is taken from a paper I delivered at the FTB Quarterly Environment Update Seminar in May.

Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

The government, with much fanfare, has published the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. The government says that the Bill, which will deliver widespread reforms to the planning system, will result in improved environmental outcomes and stronger protections for the environment in local plans.

Flora Curtis,

FTB’s Environmental Law Blog (ELB) recently celebrated its 1st birthday. We are delighted to announce two new members of the Editorial Board – Dr Ciara Brennan and Flora Curtis, whose biographies are provided below.

Michael Feeney,

In March 2022, DEFRA published a consultation paper entitled the Nature Recovery Green Paper: Protected Sites and Species (“the Green Paper”). The aim of the Green Paper is to propose and consult on reforms that are needed to meet the species target that will be introduced under the Environment Act 2021 and the government’s commitment to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030 (30 by 30).

Flora Curtis, Michael Rhimes,

This is a further post on the Environment Act 2021 (“the Act”) dealing with the new provisions on biodiversity net gain (“BNG”), found in Part 6 of the Act, and the ongoing consultation on BNG that is being carried out by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (“Defra”). These provisions are not yet in force. This article is therefore forward-looking, and considers what is on the horizon for environmental law.

Richard Honey KC, Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

Local authorities across the UK have made climate emergency declarations in large numbers. These are generally declarations which say that humanity is facing a climate emergency and that urgent action to address climate change and its effects is needed.

Flora Curtis,

Last Thursday, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the claimant against Holgate J’s decision to refuse an application for judicial review of Surrey County Council’s decision to grant planning permission for crude oil extraction. 

Michael Feeney,

Case Note: Judgment of the Court of Appeal on 17 January 2022

Jeremy Phillips KC,

The legislation relating to statutory nuisance can be a powerful tool to bring recalcitrant operators, or inconsiderate neighbours, into line. It is, however, a field fraught with technical traps for the unwary and, in even the most straightforward case, significant cost.

Ned Westaway,

The new Office for Environmental Protection (“OEP”) came into existence in November 2021 (and existed in ‘embryonic’ form for some considerable time before then), but this week is momentous for two reasons: on Monday 24 January 2022, the OEP was given its powers (by virtue of the Environment Act 2021 (Commencement No. 2 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2022) and on Tuesday 25 January – wasting no time – the OEP launched a consultation on its draft strategy and draft enforcement policy.

Michael Rhimes,

The Act was billed as “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth” – admittedly in the Conservative Party Manifesto in 2019 (see here, p. 5 of the PDF), where understatements are rare. But the Act as a whole was clearly envisaged as a watershed moment for the protection of the environment in the UK.

Flora Curtis,

The Claimant, Rights: Community: Action, is a campaigning organisation which sought to quash three statutory instruments (“the SIs”) made by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in July 2020. The SIs adjusted “permitted development” rights and removed certain changes of use from the scope of development control. 

Caroline Daly,

Case Note: Judgment of the Court of Appeal on 9 November 2021

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in an appeal brought by the RSPB and Dr Mark Avery regarding the lawfulness of the grant of a licence by Natural England to “take and disturb” hen harriers for “scientific, research or educational purposes” pursuant to section 16(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The licence facilitated a scientific trial of hen harrier brood management in the northern English uplands.

The Earth’s climate has been changing at an alarming rate, with the IPCC confirming earlier this year the scale of the problem. The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of Parties recently concluded in Glasgow, with a draft text which has proved divisive on the issues of fossil fuels, equity, loss and damage.

Michael Rhimes,

COPs are a mixed bunch. Some have lead to significant success. The 2015 COP led to the Paris Agreement, which spells out a large part of the international legal framework to combat climate change. Some have been much less successful. The COP in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP15) all but disintegrated, with one chief negotiator lambasting the resultant agreement as “the lowest level of ambition you can imagine”

Flora Curtis,

COP26 is the twenty-sixth conference of the 196 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 (see this previous blog post by Michael Rhimes on the international law framework and background to the conference). 

Michael Rhimes,

The Sixth Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes for grim reading. It concludes that it is “unequivocal” that human influence has warmed the earth; that “widespread and rapid” changes have occurred; and that this pace of change is unprecedented in the last 2000 years (See Summary for Policy-makers here, August 2021, A.1;

Merrow Golden,

Over the past five or so years, there has been what can only be described as a soar in the number of cases being brought around the world relating to climate change.

Morag Ellis KC,

Faith groups are taking an interest in COP 26 and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope and the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch are all due to attend, with their teams of advisors. These three leaders have recently issued an unprecedented joint statement calling on people “whatever their belief or worldview, to endeavour to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor, examining their behaviour and pledging meaningful sacrifices… 

Esther Drabkin-Reiter,

Judgment of Mr Justice Fordham handed down on 16 September 2021. Following an expedited rolled up judicial review hearing, the High Court has issued a declaration in terms that, in order to comply with its legal obligations, the Environment Agency (EA) must:

Mark O’Brien O’Reilly,

In March 2021, a joint statement, endorsed by 69 States, was delivered to the UN Human Rights Council calling for the recognition of the right to a healthy environment at the international level.  This was complemented by another joint statement to the Human Rights Council, endorsed by fifteen UN Entities, led by the UN Environment Programme, which argued that the time for recognition of the right is now.

Horatio Waller,

Biodiversity is presently a key consideration in the planning system only where development is proposed on or nearby a site that is specifically protected, such as a SSSI. The Environment Bill proposes to make biodiversity an overriding consideration throughout the vast majority of the country which is not subject to site specific protection. 

Robert McCracken KC, Meyric Lewis,

This post is an abridged version of a longer article first published in the February 2021 issue of the Journal of Planning and Environmental Law (Public Authorities and Environmental Information [2021] 2 JPL 160).

Ned Westaway,

The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (“the Conservation Regulations”) (and the equivalent offshore SI) is “retained EU law” under the EU Withdrawal Act 2018 (“EUWA 2018”) and, more specifically, “EU-derived domestic legislation”.  This post briefly examines what that means, what further changes may be expected and some issues arising.

Richard Honey KC,

Mr Justice Holgate handed down judgment on 26 July 2021 in the case of R (Transport Action Network Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport [2021] EWHC 2095 (Admin). The case was a climate change focussed judicial review of the Government’s second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) set under s3 of the Infrastructure Act 2015.  Highways England is to develop and construct the road schemes identified in RIS2.  RIS2 covered 45 road schemes rolled forward from RIS1 and five new schemes, including the Lower Thames Crossing.  

Richard Honey KC,

Much of the UK’s domestic environmental law is derived from EU law.  This covers strategic environmental assessment, environmental impact assessment and the protection of habitats and species, amongst many other areas.  The domestic regulations covering these areas qualify as retained EU law and now need to be considered and applied in light of the arrangements for dealing with EU exit. 

Professor Pavlos Eleftheriadis,

The Queen’s Speech of December 2019, i.e. that of the second Johnson government, announced a new Environment Bill, which would ‘enshrine in law environmental principles and legally-binding targets’. It was notable modification of the earlier statement about the same Bill made in October 2019 in the Queen’s Speech of the first Johnson government, which had stated that: ‘for the first time, environmental principles will be enshrined in law’.

Richard Honey KC,

The Office for Environmental Protection (“OEP”) is to be a new, independent, statutory body created under the Environment Bill to support environmental protection, improve the natural environment and hold public bodies to account. It is expected that the OEP will begin implementing its non-statutory functions in July.  

Horatio Waller,

This is the first of a two-part series on the net biodiversity gain provisions set out in the Environment Bill. They would make it a mandatory condition for most development to achieve a 10% biodiversity net gain in order to proceed.

On 10 May 2021, after six hours of plenary debates, the Climate Change Bill (Northern Ireland) 2021 (the Bill) passed its second stage, with 58 votes in favour and 29 against. Introduced on 22 March by Clare Bailey MLA, it remains the only attempt by the Assembly to put Northern Ireland’s climate change policy on a statutory footing.

Charles Forrest,

This is Part 2 of our blog posts on Conservation Covenants (“CC”).

Charles Forrest,

Background of the Environment Bill 2019-21

The previous version of the bill- the Environment Bill 2019- fell at the dissolution of Parliament for the General Election in December 2019. It was reintroduced in substantially the same form in the current Parliament and is called The Environment Bill 2019-21.

Since the mellifluous narration of Sir David Attenborough in Blue Planet II alerted millions of horrified viewers to the shocking ubiquity of plastic pollution in the global oceans, there has been a vociferous popular demand for regulators to tackle the rising tide of marine litter.

Richard Honey KC,

The Environment Bill is intended to replace some aspects of the EU environmental regulation structure and to set long-term, legally binding environmental targets to build a ‘fairer, greener, more resilient future’.[1].

On 31 July 2020, a seven-judge Supreme Court delivered judgment in Friends of the Irish Environment CLG v Government of Ireland [2020] IESC 49.

Esther Drabkin-Reiter, Jonathan Welch, Richard Honey KC, Ned Westaway, Merrow Golden, Conor Fegan,