Ruling clarifies planners’ obligation to note eco policy
A High Court ruling this week emphasises that planners can carry knowledge of relevant environmental policy without needing to cite it explicitly.
William Fry LLP acted for Tesco Ireland Limited in its successful defence of a judicial-review challenge to its grant of planning permission for a new store, drive-through café, and petrol station at Townparks & Tullymongan Lower, Cock Hill, in Cavan town.
Challenge to validity
The case, which sought to overturn the planning permission and challenge the validity of the 2024 Climate Action Plan (CAP24), was by Mr Justice Humphreys in the High Court (16 July).
This case forms part of a trend of climate-related judicial-review challenges alleging a breach of section 15 of the .
The act requires public bodies, including An Coimisiún Pleanála, to perform its functions, “insofar as practicable” in a manner consistent with the most recently approved CAP and other specified climate-policy documents.
The court this week ultimately accepted that the commission's decision implicitly complied with the 2015 act, even though CAP24 was not explicitly referenced by the commission, emphasising that decision-makers can carry knowledge of relevant policy without needing to cite it explicitly.
The ruling states that the “absolutist position” adopted by the objectors is “far too prescriptive and reductionist” in that anything causing an increase in emissions, however insignificant, is a breach of policy.
The ruling adds that, if climate-neutral projects can be consented, “it is illogical to object to those that are virtually climate neutral if the excess of emissions is genuinely trivial and as long as the polluter pays and all other legal prerequisites are addressed.
“The real question in such cases may be the accuracy and logic of the emissions calculations, and whether the developer is setting those off, however minor they may be, but the applicant hasn’t got into that issue on these pleadings,” the ruling continues.
Intersection of law and climate policy
The case is part of the evolving intersection of planning law and climate policy in Ireland, William Fry said.
The William Fry team advising on the case was led by litigation and investigations partner Michelle Martin and associate Kate Abell, supported by a cross-departmental team including Liam McCabe and Conor Treacy.
Commenting, Michelle Martin said: “This judgment provides some welcome clarifications on the obligations of the commission in documenting its considerations of climate policy in the planning process."