Environment court dogged by costs issue, says judge

The proposal for a single environmental court is a 'definite runner' if the problem of costs can be sorted out, Lord Justice Sedley said recently at a conference to mark the first anniversary of the Aarhus Convention on the environment.

Speaking at the conference organised by the Environmental Law Foundation, he suggested that the new court could take the form of an enhanced lands tribunal, handling criminal, public law and civil cases, as well as planning issues.

However, he said it was increasingly clear that 'serious attention' needs to be paid to the problem of costs to balance the needs of public authorities with those of individuals who blow the whistle on possible environmental malpractice.

He said grants of permission for judicial review could carry an order indicating how costs are likely to be divided, 'including a no-costs provision in worthwhile cases'.

Otherwise, Lord Justice Sedley said the legal system may not meet the Aarhus standard of affording remedies 'which are not prohibitively expensive'.

He said: 'If the Inland Revenue can underwrite the legal costs of taxpayers on appeal, win, lose or draw, there is nothing unduly novel in requiring the other limbs of the state from time to time to pay their own costs even if they win.'