There has long been law protecting the environment, but growing interest has seen environmental law expand, with people keen to use it to protect themselves, their surroundings, and the wider good.

Inevitably, environmental law is wide ranging. Our work has covered, for example, nature conservation (particularly habitat protection), environmental impact assessment (for developments ranging from Heathrow Terminal 5, to forestry in Scotland, to the local swimming pool), control of civilian and military aircraft noise, planning work with particular focus on protected landscapes & heritage, rights of access & commons, and noise and other environmental nuisance problems, such as model aircraft, theme parks, light, and odour.

Using the law

We apply the law to these problems in three main ways:

  • Challenging decisions of central and local government in a process known as “judicial review” (and a closely related procedure called “statutory challenge)”, where the High Court is there to make sure those bodies act lawfully. Where a decision has been made, authorities tend to be highly protective of them.
  • Taking cases against people (individuals, companies, government bodies, other organisations) who cause others nuisance – a term which broadly speaking covers conduct or activities which others should not be expected to put up with. Cases may be in the High Court, County Court, or Magistrates Court.
  • Helping people put their case to decision makers at public inquires, council meetings, and the like – trying to avoid any need to take legal action in the first place.

These cases can lead to appeals. We have had many cases in the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court (and before it the House of Lords), and before Brexit in the European Court of Justice, many breaking new ground for making environmental law effective.

Human Rights

We have also taken cases in the European Court of Human Rights. Rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998, can be important in an environmental context. The ECHR guarantees, among other things, protection of life, respect for private and family life, home and correspondence, to fair hearings, to effective remedies, and to non-deprivation of property, all of which can be relevant to environmental cases.

Access to Justice

We have also been at the forefront of effective implementation of the Aarhus Convention which guarantees various environmental rights including that bringing environmental cases is not “prohibitively expensive”. There is a way to go yet, but the net result is that the costs of going to court to protect your environment can usually be made manageable, and in the cases we take, we do our best to make that happen.