Campaigning environmental lawyer Richard Stein has roundly rejected Nabarro Nathanson’s call for the government to change the law on environmental impact assessments.
Richard Stein of Leigh, Day & Co, which has acted for objectors in numerous high-profile cases, including Crystal Palace and the Birmingham northern relief road, has hit back at Nabarro’s partner Michael Renger’s call following the House of Lords decision in R v North Yorkshire County Council ex parte Brown.
Renger said that the 11 February judgment could force operators to order environmental impact assessments of existing quarries and mines. He questioned whether the cost for industry would be justified by the benefits, and said: “Statutory clarification of the situation is now needed as a matter of urgency to give some certainty to mineral operations.”
But Stein told PLS: “There are people contacting me from all over the country suffering untold misery from open-cast mining and quarrying operations that seem to have been allowed without consideration for the effect on their lives. Instead of moving away from environmental impact assessments, I would hope that the government would amend the law in the opposite direction, to allow assessments to take place and restrictions to be imposed even if it has an impact on business.”
He added: “It is a fantasy that dust is not a problem. It is a fantasy that people are not affected by noise. We have to balance the extraction of minerals against its effect on quality of life.”
The North Yorkshire ruling centred on the interpretation of a European directive (85/337/EEC), which obliges local authorities to carry out an impact assessment before granting a “development consent”. The House of Lords upheld the view that a council should consider requiring a quarrying operator to carry out an environmental assessment not only when considering whether to grant planning permission but also when conducting a review under the Planning and Compensation Act 1991.
Stein said: “The 1991 Act gave a chink of opportunity. We should not move away from it.”
Michael Renger was unavailable to comment.
See: Call to change the law on environmental impact assessment
PLS News 23/2/99
