The felling of protest? – UK Police Law Blog

‘In Sheffield City Council v Fairhall [2017] EWHC 2121 (QB), the Court has been asked to consider the extent to which the decision in DPP v Jones [1999] UKHL 5; [1999] 2 AC 240 can be relied upon as a right to conduct peaceful but disruptive protest on the highway.’

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UK Police Law Blog, 30th September 2017

Source: ukpolicelawblog.com

A weed is a plant in the wrong place – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 2nd, 2017 in animals, environmental protection, news by sally

‘“Banker” Ni Li and “estate agent” Zhixong Li bought the live American lobsters and Dungeness crabs from a London fish merchant, hired three boats from Brighton Marina and cast the animals adrift as part of a religious ceremony, fangsheng, which is understood to be the cause of many ecosystem disruptions in Asia.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 29th September 2017

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Two Buddhists fined £15,000 for releasing crustaceans into sea – The Guardian

Posted September 25th, 2017 in environmental protection, fines, news by sally

‘Two Buddhists who released £5,000 worth of crustaceans into the Channel as part of a religious ceremony have been fined almost £15,000 for causing “untold damage” to the environment.’

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The Guardian, 23rd September 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

Aarhus costs cap challenge succeeds – UK Human Rights Blog

‘RSPB, Friends of the Earth & Client Earth v. Secretary of State for Justice [2017] EWHC 2309 (Admin), 15 September 2017, Dove J. In my March 2017 post here, I explained that amendments to the costs rules for public law environmental claims threatened to undo much of the certainty that those rules had achieved since 2013. Between 2013 and February 2017, if you, an individual, had an environmental judicial review, then you could pretty much guarantee that your liability to the other side’s costs would be capped at £5,000 (£10,000 for companies) if you lost, and your recovery of your own costs would be limited to £35,000 if you won. In this way, the rules sought to avoid the cost of such claims becoming prohibitively expensive and thus in breach of Art.9(4) of the Aarhus Convention.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 16th September 2017

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Green groups claim ‘important victory’ in challenge to legal costs rules – The Guardian

Posted September 18th, 2017 in charities, costs, environmental protection, judgments, news, privacy by tracey

‘Conservation and environmental groups have claimed an “important victory” in their high court challenge to new legal costs rules which they say make it much harder to bring cases to protect the environment.’

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The Guardian, 15th September 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK citizens set for “second class status” – EU (Withdrawal) Bill – The Bar Council

Posted September 8th, 2017 in bills, devolution, EC law, environmental protection, jurisdiction, news, treaties by tracey

‘”This Bill will leave UK citizens and businesses with less protection against the power of the state. Rights are not being brought home, they are being abolished.”
Andrew Langdon QC, Chair of the Bar.’

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The Bar Council, 7th September 2017

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

Vivienne Westwood’s son challenges Ineos injunction on fracking protest – The Guardian

Posted September 8th, 2017 in demonstrations, environmental protection, fracking, injunctions, news by tracey

‘An environmental campaigner is challenging the legality of a wide-ranging injunction obtained against protesters by a multinational firm that he criticised as being “draconian, anti-democratic and oppressive”.’

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The Guardian, 7th September 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

Campaigners launch last-ditch appeal to stop fracking in Lancashire – The Guardian

Posted August 30th, 2017 in appeals, environmental protection, fracking, local government, news, planning by sally

‘A last-ditch legal challenge to prevent fracking in Lancashire is being launched at the court of appeal.’

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The Guardian, 29th August 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

The “Great Repeal Bill” and environmental law – Six Pump Court

Posted August 21st, 2017 in bills, EC law, environmental protection, news by sally

‘The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 13 July. Its substantive provisions occupy 13 pages, with a further 47 pages of schedules (much of the latter being devoted to devolution issues). The accompanying Explanatory Notes, despite describing themselves as “not, and not intended to be, a comprehensive description of the Bill”, are nevertheless of roughly equal total length.’

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Six Pump Court, 24th July 2017

Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk

Law Pod UK Episode 6: The European Withdrawal Bill, and its likely impact on environmental standards – 1COR

Posted August 1st, 2017 in bills, brexit, EC law, environmental protection, news, podcasts, referendums by sally

‘David Hart talks to Rosalind English about the likely impact of the European Withdrawal Bill, and in particular the concerns about the knock on effects it might have on existing environmental standards after BREXIT.’

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Law Pod UK, 26th July 2017

Source: audioboom.com

Latest legal challenge to Tory air pollution plans fails – The Guardian

Posted July 6th, 2017 in consultations, environmental protection, news, pollution, publishing by sally

‘The government has won the latest court challenge over the UK’s air pollution crisis.’

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The Guardian, 5th July 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

Environmental Law News Update – Six Pump Court

‘In this latest Environmental Law News Update, Christopher Badger and Laura Phillips consider the Bar Council’s Brexit Working Group paper on environmental law, the publication of revised voluntary guidelines for issuing Green Bonds, and pledges by the Mayor of London for a ‘zero-emission’ city by 2050.’

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Six Pump Court, 26th June 2017

Source: www.6pumpcourt.co.uk

Lawyers plan to stop UK dropping EU rules on environment after Brexit – The Guardian

Posted July 4th, 2017 in bills, brexit, EC law, environmental protection, news by sally

‘A taskforce of environmental lawyers is drawing up plans to stop thousands of EU rules protecting rivers, wildlife, coastlines and air quality from being dropped by the government after Brexit.’

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The Guardian, 3rd July 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com

Information law: when something is “on” an environmental measure – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted July 3rd, 2017 in electricity, environmental protection, freedom of information, news by tracey

‘Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy v. Information Commissioner and Henney [2017] EWCA Civ 844. As many will know, there are two different systems of freedom of information, the first and better known, the Freedom for Information Act 2000, and the second, the Environmental Information Regulations 2009. From the perspective of the inquirer (Mr Henney, here), the EIRs are the more favourable, and it was the differences between the systems which gave rise to this long-running dispute to do with energy Smart Meters.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 30th June 2017

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Don’t mention the bigger picture – Panopticon

‘The definition of ‘environmental information’ is notoriously wide. Notorious too is the difficulty of applying it and the lack of binding authority on how to go about the task.’

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Panopticon, 29th June 2017

Source: panopticonblog.com

Lorries illegally polluting the atmosphere with emission ‘cheats’ face crackdown – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 26th, 2017 in environmental protection, news, pollution, road traffic, transport by sally

‘Lorries that are illegally polluting the atmosphere via emission “cheats” face a crackdown, with random checks beginning in August.’

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Daily Telegraph, 25th June 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Court of Appeal to hear legal challenge against Lancashire fracking plans – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 12th, 2017 in appeals, environmental protection, fracking, judicial review, news, planning by sally

‘Campaigners in Lancashire in England have won the right to continue their legal challenge against planned ‘fracking’ operations on farm land between the towns of Blackpool and Preston.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 9th June 2017

Source: www.out-law.com

Campaigners win permission for Court of Appeal challenge to fracking decision – Local Government Lawyer

Posted June 9th, 2017 in appeals, environmental protection, fracking, news, planning by sally

‘Campaigners have this week been granted permission to appeal a Planning Court ruling allowing fracking at a site in Lancashire.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 8th June 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Farmers in row with ASA after milk advert claiming dairy farms are ‘good for the land’ is banned for being misleading – Daily Telegraph

Posted June 7th, 2017 in advertising, agriculture, environmental protection, news by sally

‘Farmers have hit out at a ruling by the advertising watchdog that organic dairy farming is not “good for the land”.’

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Daily Telegraph, 7th June 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Lobbying Act ‘stifling environment debate’ in election campaign – The Guardian

Posted June 2nd, 2017 in elections, environmental protection, lobbying, news by sally

‘Debate on environmental issues has been stifled in the run-up the general election leaving voters in the dark , opposition parties have claimed, as a result of the Lobbying Act and government determination to avoid criticism over problems such as air pollution.’

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The Guardian, 1st June 2017

Source: www.theguardian.com