City backing for environmental tribunal plan

City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is among those backing calls for the creation of an environmental tribunal, trumpeted last week in a report published by University College London.

The report said a specialist tribunal would be far better equipped to deal with environmental cases than the ordinary courts.

It found there was general dissatisfaction with the current system because of the variety of different appeal mechanisms and bodies relating to environmental law, and the fact that - in some cases - no right of appeal is provided in legislation.

The report was produced with the backing of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and its recommendation has been strongly endorsed by Court of Appeal judge, Lord Justice Carnwath.

It was launched last week at Freshfields.

Partner Paul Watchman said: 'We are very supportive of this proposal because it would increase access to justice and also - from the point of view of both lawyers and clients - it would be better to have cases dealt with by specialists rather than in the ordinary courts.'

Jeremy Fleming