Planning authorities have been warned by leading planning barristers that they face the prospect of carrying out more strategic environmental assessments (SEAs).
This is the result of a legal challenge by neighbourhood groups in Brussels who won a case at the European Court of Justice against the city’s regional authority, Region de Bruxelles-Capitale.
The groups successfully challenged an order by the authority that repealed parts of the Brussels planning code. They said the move was incompatible with the SEA directive because a study of its environmental impact had not been made by the regional authority.
According to Hugh Richards QC at No5 Chambers and Gregory Jones QC of Francis Taylor Building, the ruling has further clarified the scope and requirements of the European Union SEA directive.
According to Richards the new ruling means that authorities seeking to revoke or update plans will also have to carry out an SEA.
He said: ‘What it’s going to do is to require everybody to think not only about what they’re proposing, but also what they are proposing not to do that they were doing before.’
Jones said the judgment ‘has wide implications for English planning’ as it would apply to all plans adopted, such as supplementary planning documents (SPDs).
He said previously SEAs were only needed for plans that authorities were ‘required to adopt’, usually by law, but the judgment created a more flexible interpretation of ‘required’.
Jones explained that he referred to the European Court judgment when he won a case in the High Court recently on behalf of traders at Shepherd Bush Market facing eviction by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham who wanted to redevelop the market.
In that case the judge agreed with Jones’ argument that the council’s SPD, which formed the basis of the redevelopment plans, was unlawful as an SEA had not been carried out.
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