Cutting the costs of environmental justice25 January 2010
A senior judge, Lord Justice Jackson has completed a review of legal costs.
This groundbreaking report includes important recommendations on access to justice in environmental judicial review cases.
The UK is required to follow the international Aarhus Convention.
This requires access to justice in environmental matters to be 'not prohibitively expensive'.
But at the moment our legal system is prohibitively expensive.
Proposal of a new system
Currently people who bring environmental cases to court risk facing high costs if they lose the case.
Lord Justice Jackson's report proposes a system where judicial review claimants would not have to pay the opposition's costs if they lose.
Although there are still some important questions to be resolved.
This report represents an important step in the direction of access to environmental justice.
Together with the Coalition on Access to Justice for the Environment, we have written to the Government insisting that access to environmental justice is not prohibitively expensive.
The UK is currently failing to meet its clear international obligations to provide access to environmental justice. The evidence against the Government is now overwhelming and it needs to act quickly to avoid facing international censure.Phil Michaels,
Head of Legal, Friends of the Earth
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