CO/3858/2007
Neutral Citation Number: [2008] EWHC 475 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2
Friday, 22nd February 2008
B E F O R E:
MR JUSTICE MITTING
THE QUEEN ON THE APPLICATION OF
BUGLIFE THE INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION TRUST
(CLAIMANT)
v
THURROCK THAMES GATEWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
(DEFENDANT)
and
Case No: C1/2008/0612
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
MR. JUSTICE MITTING
[2008] EWHC 475 (Admin)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 28/01/2009
Before :
LORD JUSTICE PILL
LORD JUSTICE RIX
and
LADY JUSTICE ARDEN
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Between :
Ten endangered British insects will feature on a new series of Royal Mail postage stamps to be issued on Tuesday. The insects, which range from the stag beetle to the Adonis blue butterfly, and from the red-barbed ant to the hazel pot beetle, have been photographed from the collection in the Natural History Museum in London, which has 28 million specimens.
As Royal Mail flaunted its green credentials with a new set of stamps featuring endangered insects yesterday, a conservation charity offered up a similar set highlighting the plight of insects that it says are threatened by one of the postal service's developments.
Buglife, or the Invertebrate Conservation Trust, also announced its intention to go to the Court of Appeal to challenge the development of a depot and lorry park for Royal Mail on marshland in Essex. In February, the High Court rejected Buglife's attempt to stop the building work at West Thurrock Marshes in Essex.
A new Royal Mail distribution centre could be built in Thurrock. The proposed site in Oliver Road, would be partly demolished to make way for office space and a unit for vehicle maintenance. The plans have been backed by Thurrock Council.
Courts must do all they can to avoid satellite costs litigation in civil cases, the Court of Appeal has said.
The case involved a dispute over a protective costs order (PCO) made by the High Court in favour of the insect conservation charity Buglife.
Buglife launched a judicial review to save from development a brownfield site in Thurrock, Essex, which is regarded as one of the top three in the country for rare invertebrates.
The three-year battle to save West Thurrock Marshes from destruction suffered a massive set-back today, when the Court of Appeal judged that the decision to build on the site was lawful.
A warehouse can be built on one of the three most important sites for rare insects in Britain, even though alternatives were "barely considered", the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Insect conservation charity Buglife launched a judicial review against the grant of planning permission for the site in Thurrock, Essex. The land, in the Thames Gateway redevelopment area, had been partly occupied by a power station.
Britain bangs on to other countries about looking after nature, but it seems hell-bent on destroying its own most protected species. Last week, the court of appeal judged that the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation had the right to build on marshland near the river Thames - land rated as one of the three most important sites for endangered wildlife in the country, with 17 protected species. This was triply depressing for conservation.