High Court certifies appeal on an important question relative to Appropriate Assessment (AA)

The High Court has recently certified an appeal on an important question relative to Appropriate Assessment (AA). The Court of Appeal has been asked a jurisdictional question about whether the Board is entitled to carry out an AA, if it does not have site-specific conservation objectives. The High Court referred the below query:

“Are valid conservation objectives for a Special Protection Area a pre-requisite to the Board’s jurisdiction to carry out a valid Appropriate Assessment under Article 6(3) Habitats Directive and thus grant planning permission?”

The High Court considered this question raised a point of law of exceptional public importance because:

•    Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive explicitly requires that AA be done “in view of the conservation objectives” of any Natura 2000 site screened in for AA (as the SPA was) and, 

•    at the time of the Board’s Impugned Permission, there were no valid conservation objectives for the SPA.

This matter will now be heard before the Court of Appeal, and we will provide a further update once this judgment is published (which is likely to be Q4 2024). 

For more information in relation to this topic, please contact Alison Fanagan, Consultant or Mark Thuillier, Senior Associate or any member of the Environmental & Planning team.

Date published: 13 May 2024