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Planning and environmental law

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Environmental law

Friends of the Earth has decades of experience supporting individuals and communities standing up for the environment. We defend people's right to:

  • Get hold of environmental information.
  • Take part in the government's land-use planning system.
  • Use the law to protect the environment and public health.
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Meet the legal team

Led by solicitor Will Rundle, the legal team at Friends of the Earth is key to driving climate issues up the political agenda.

Together with grassroots campaigners and community groups, they've helped secure big wins on issues like airport expansion and fracking.

Find out more about what they do.

Meet the legal team

Barbara spoke up against fracking

"If we don't stop fracking here in Lancashire, there's a danger it will spread like a rash across the country." – Barbara Richardson, Roseacre Awareness Group, Lancashire

We stood shoulder to shoulder with Barbara when Cuadrilla applied to drill for shale gas on her doorstep.

"My first thought was just, ‘How can they do this near where we live; how can they industrialise the area around our home?’”

Our planning experts helped Barbara object to the planning application. Lancashire’s County Councillors listened and voted to reject Cuadrilla’s proposal.

Yet, thanks to central government’s decision to override local government’s ruling – and continue to push for fracking – communities around the country are now at risk.

New cases like Barbara's are coming to us all the time.

Meet Barbara Richardson

Dudleston stood together

"Our entire community united to win this fight to stop drilling from destroying our Dudleston." — Chris Hesketh, Frack Free Dudleston, Shropshire

When Chris Hesketh heard that IGas wanted to drill for Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in his home village of Dudleston, his initial reaction was, “Oh my god is this really happening?”

Up against a multimillion pound corporation that was working with Shropshire County Council, Chris didn’t know how he could fight back. But he couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.

We helped Chris build his case and inform his local community about CBM’s impacts, including 24/7 noise pollution, heavy traffic, and industrialisation.

“Once people knew more about CBM, they realised we had to fight back.”

It looked like the planning inspectorate was siding in favour of the drilling company. But our planning expert wrote directly to them arguing to get Dudleston’s written appeal upgraded to a full public Inquiry. Daunted by Dudleston’s anti-CBM community now having the chance to speak up, IGas backed out from their plans for the Shropshire area entirely.

A key court victory

Going to court is a costly business, which can make people think twice about bringing a legal challenge. In February 2017 the government removed a cap on the cost of going to court to challenge government environmental decisions. This effectively took away the voice of cash-strapped community groups — who couldn't risk spiralling costs if they lost.

Within the year we had successfully reversed this bad decision. Hundreds of Friends of the Earth supporters chipped in to help pay for our legal work. We won vital changes: a High Court judge decided that the new rules couldn't be used to raise the potential cost once the case had started.

This means that when people challenge the government about decisions that affect the environment – such as plans to build on an important nature site – the maximum cost liability for those bringing the case will have to be fixed early on.

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Support fund for environmental law interns

Our legal interns play a big role in our successes while gaining the experience they need to kickstart their careers.

But not everyone can afford to volunteer.

We've created a fund that pays our legal interns a London living wage. The Phil Michaels Legal Interns Scholarship Fund helps talented young people from less-advantaged backgrounds. Can you support the fund?

Help fund budding lawyers

Friends of the Earth Rights & Justice Centre

In case you or your community need support on planning or environmental law, our team of lawyers and planning experts have put together a Friends of the Earth guide to community rights, environment and planning law

This should help you navigate the planning and legal systems. It also contains details of further support we may be able to offer directly.

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