CJEU Asked If Stage Two Assessment Can Proceed Without Site-specific Conservation Objectives

On 5 December 2024, the Irish Court of Appeal referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") a question about site-specific conservation objectives: Power v. An Bord Pleanála [2024] IECA 295.

Specifically, the court has asked the CJEU whether valid conservation objectives are a pre-condition to the jurisdiction to carry out a stage two appropriate assessment under the Habitats Directive.

Pending an answer from the CJEU – likely to take ~18 months, every planning permission granted for projects that require appropriate assessment – where there are only generic conservation objectives (as opposed to site-specific objectives) – is vulnerable to legal challenge. At minimum, those challenges will have to await the answer from the CJEU. There must be a prospect that An Bord Pleanála will refrain from making decisions on applications to which this risk applies.