High Court Considers Climate Change Considerations In Judicial Review Proceedings

In Jennifer Dawes v Secretary of State for the Transport Department [2023] EWHC 2352 (Admin) the High Court dismissed a challenge brought by a local campaigner on the grounds of, among others, climate change in relation to the grant of development consent for the redevelopment and reopening of Manston Airport.

Key Points

• Public law decision makers are entitled to rely on their own unchallenged policies to deliver the outcome for which they were designed. Here the Government's Jet Zero policy was seen as capable of accelerating decarbonisation in the aviation sector and ensuring that carbon budgets were met without directly limiting aviation demand.
• There is nothing to preclude expert evidence being provided in a decision-making or consultation process in which some of the underlying data or evidence is not disclosed on the grounds that it is commercially confidential. This omission did not render the consultation process unlawful and it was a matter for the