Ensuring access to environmental justice in England and Wales: Report of the Working Group on Access to Environmental Justice

摘要

We discuss the significance of the report in the Current Topics section of the issue and set out below the executive summary and the summary of key recommendations provided by the report. 1. The third pillar of the Aarhus Convention is concerned with access to environmental justice. It gives rights to members of the public, including environmental organisations, to challenge the legality of decisions by public authorities to grant consent for a wide range of activities as well as any other acts or omissions that are contrary to the provisions of national laws relating to the environment. Article 9(4) of the Convention requires that procedures for rights to access must 'provide adequate and effective remedies, including injunctive relief as appropriate and be fair, equitable, timely, and not prohibitively expensive'. 2. The UK government has ratified the Aarhus Convention and is largely relying on existing judicial review procedures to fulfil this access to environmental justice requirements. The liberal approach generally taken by the courts in England and Wales to questions of standing for judicial review in environmental cases reflects the Aarhus obligations in this respect.