The Aarhus convention is an international treaty signed up to by the EU and other countries in Europe, which protects the right for campaigners to bring legal claims against large infrastructure projects such as waste plants, nuclear power stations, motorways and airport expansions.
It enshrines the right for citizens to challenge environmental decisions and defend their right to a healthy environment, including by capping the legal costs a losing claimant can be forced to pay. Individual claimants only have to pay £5,000, while groups have to pay £10,000.
Keir Starmer has tasked a Conservative peer with writing a new planning bill which might remove the ability for environmental groups to use the Aarhus convention to challenge, and therefore delay, projects by asking for judicial reviews. (report in Guardian)
Removal of this convention would mean that small groups like BAAN could never raise enough funds to challenge plans by large corporations such as Bristol Airport.
Please write to your MP and explain the importance of keeping the Aarhus convention so that small groups and individuals can challenge major infrastructure developments that may severely impact on their lives.