Stephen Hockman QC condemns government manoeuvres to restrict affordable access to environmental justice
The importance of an appropriate legal framework for the protection of the environment should, in this day and age, need no emphasis. There are two aspects of this framework. The first is the system of public law under which decisions by public authorities that, unlawfully or irrationally, fail to protect our environment can be challenged by way of judicial review. The ability to bring such judicial review challenges has been held by the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords (the predecessor of the Supreme Court) as essential to secure compliance with our obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights. The UK is also a party to the so-called AARHUS Convention, which requires that such challenges can be brought without prohibitive expense, a duty which, according to a recent decision of the AARHUS compliance committee, the UK is already failing to meet.
Of equal importance is the ability of a citizen or a group of citizens to bring private law proceedings (usually
