The Government could face a legal challenge over the environmental impact of its regional development plan for the East of England [1], a Friends of the Earth report warns today. The public consultation on `further proposed changes to the East of England Plan' closes today.

Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has already been forced to make further changes [2] to the East of England Plan - the Government's `Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)' for large scale and rapid growth across the region (such as new homes and roads) in the region to the year 2021 - following earlier warnings that it might contravene EU laws aimed at protecting Europe's most precious wildlife sites.

But a new report for Friends of the Earth [3], by Professor Riki Therivel, of Levett-Therivel Sustainability consultants [4], concludes that "even with the further proposed changes, the RSS could still lead to significant impacts on the integrity of the European sites." The report warns that unless the sites are properly protected in the RSS there may be grounds for a judicial review [5].

Friends of the Earth's East of England campaigner, Mary Edwards, said:

"The Government is trying to force too many people, houses and related infrastructure into some of our most environmentally sensitive areas. This report warns that not only is the Government's revised East of England Plan still too environmentally damaging, it may also be unlawful. Ministers must urgently reassess these proposals and ensure that our best wildlife sites are properly protected."

Report author, Professor Riki Therivel, of Levett-Therivel Sustainability consultants, said:

"The Government's house building plans, particularly for the south and east of England, are affecting wildlife by hitting against environmental limits. Some of the problems could be solved by finding other places to put the houses, but in the long run we will need to significantly change how houses are built.

"In some areas we may need `water neutral' and `air pollution neutral' homes to stay within environmental limits. These wildlife sites are the jewels in England's nature conservation crown. If we can't keep them in good shape, then what hope have we for our own future?"

Notes

[1] The East of England Plan or Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) sets out the regional strategy for planning and development in the East of England to the year 2021. It covers economic development, housing, the environment, transport, waste management, culture, sport and recreation, mineral extraction and more. It was initially developed by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) and sent to the then Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, on November 25, 2004. Following submission of the draft East of England Plan in November 2004, EERA's role in the development of the plan changed. It is now the Government's responsibility to progress the Plan from draft to approval. The 2004 draft RSS for the East of England is available to view or download from:

www.eera.gov.uk/category.asp?cat=452

A public consultation was held on the draft RSS from November 2004 to March 2005. After the consultation ended, the draft RSS was subject to an Examination in Public in front of a panel of independent inspectors from November 2005 to March 2006. The Inspectors produced a report to Government in response to the EiP, which was published by the Government in June 2006. In response to this report and other submissions, the Government published the Proposed Changes to the Draft East of England Plan document for consultation from December 2006 to March 2007. It is available from:

www.go-east.gov.uk/goee/docs/193657/193668/ProposedChanges.pdf(PDF† )

[2] Published at the same time as the Proposed Changes document was an assessment of the proposed changes in relation to `likely significant effects' of the Plan on important wildlife sites in England. Objections were raised by Friends of the Earth, Natural England and others to the quality of this assessment. These objections prompted a re-assessment of the Plan, relating exclusively to the protection of sites of European or international importance for wildlife. After this new assessment, the Secretary of State for Communities published `Further Proposed Changes to the East of England Plan' in October this year. The consultation on these further changes finishes on Tuesday, December 18th. The `Further Changes' document can be viewed at:

www.go-east.gov.uk/goeast/planning/regional_planning/?a=42496

[3] The report, `Review of the Further Proposed Changes to the East of England Plan', 2007, has been prepared for Friends of the Earth by Dr. Riki Therivel.

The full report, executive summary and a briefing are available from Friends of the Earth.

[4] Dr. Riki Therivel is one of the UK's leading authorities on the Appropriate Assessment process which must be followed under the Habitats Directive that seeks to protect internationally important wildlife sites across Europe. Dr.Therivel is a partner of Levett-Therivel, and a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University's School of the Built Environment.

[5] The greatest problems highlighted by the report include water supplies, wastewater treatment, recreational disturbance and air pollution. It points out that some of the changes proposed for the Plan are positive but that there are still sensitive areas such as the Breckland SAC/SPA, Ouse Washes SAC/SPA/Ramsar, Lee Valley SPA/Ramsar and sites near ports under threat.

It goes on to say that, `The fact that many of the RSS's impacts could not be rectified if they do occur stresses the need to get the RSS right now; it won't be possible to turn things the right way around again. Because of this, we believe that further HRA information should be collected and taken into account in finalising the RSS, or as required by the Habitats Regulations 85C(1), alternative solutions to the RSS must be considered. Otherwise there may be grounds for a judicial review against that decision.'

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.