Environmental campaigner Anthony Bown, who believes that a £30m scheme to reroute traffic around Barnstaple will endanger local wildlife, has failed in his attempt to block the development.
In the High Court today, Collins J said that, before granting approval for the development, the Department of Transport had properly balanced the scheme’s environmental effects against its “overwhelming benefits”.
The judge accepted that the project was likely to disturb protected otters living in the area. But, save for some continuing traffic noise, he said that such disturbance was likely to be temporary.
He went on to say that the planning inspector had been entitled to find that Devon County Council’s plans to minimise the effect upon the otter population were adequate, and that any disturbance would be “so small as not to amount to a good reason for refusing to approve the orders”.
Bown v Secretary of State for Transport Queen’s Bench Division (Collins J) 26 March 2003.
References: PLS News 26/3/03
