DEFRA may back RSPB proposals for aid to members of public fighting planning decisions
Piers Wehner
Members of the public could get legal aid to challenge planning decisions in court, if proposals by conservation lobbyists are approved.
A proposal to give objectors funds to fight planning decisions has been formulated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The RSPB is leading a 10-strong lobby of groups campaigning against government proposals in the planning green paper to ban third parties from objecting to decisions.
Mark Southgate, head of planning at the RSPB, said: “There are alternatives to third-party rights that we would want to pursue, including giving people funding to take decisions to judicial review.”
Several countries, notably New Zealand and Canada, already have a system of legal aid for judicial review against planning decisions through an environmental court. In New Zealand, the allocation and level of legal aid is decided by the minister for the environment.
Environment minister Michael Meacher is said to be receptive to the idea of an “environmental aid” fund, modelled along the lines of the existing legal aid system. His department has floated the idea of an independent board that would filter applications for aid and award it only to cases representing genuine public concerns.
It is also thought that Meacher is in favour of setting up a specialist branch of the judiciary to deal with environmental issues. The remit of this new environment court would run from county courts up through to the High Court.
There is concern within DEFRA that unless protesters are granted a judicial outlet, they will take to the streets.
But Sainsbury’s property director, Ian Coull, argued that there is already more than enough community involvement. “All these proposals would do is to slow things down by giving a vehicle to single-purpose interest groups and disaffected individuals.”
