RECENT DOMESTIC JUDGMENTS
High Court grants leave to appeal question of whether
conservation objectives must be set for Special Protection Areas in
order to carry out a valid Appropriate Assessment
(“AA”)
In its substantive judgment, the High Court had found that
conservation objectives do not need to be set for a Special
Protection Area in order for the Board to be able to undertake a
lawful AA. In the circumstances of the case, the Court held that
the AA was valid notwithstanding the lack of site-specific
conservation objectives for the relevant site. The applicant sought
leave to appeal this finding to the Court of Appeal.
The applicant submitted that (1) a protected site is not
properly designated unless its conservation objectives have been
set, and (2) the Habitats Directive requires AA to be undertaken
“in view of the conservation objectives”. It follows,
in the applicant's view, that AA cannot be undertaken
lawfully where conservation objectives do not
