A conservation campaign in the United Kingdom achieved a remarkable legal victory in February, according to The Guardian.
According to Protecting the Dedham Vale, train company Greater Anglia expanded the car park at Manningtree station (located within Dedham Vale) in 2020 to accommodate increased traffic. The railway company claimed it had "permitted development rights," which allowed it to make certain changes to the building or land without applying for nor obtaining planning permission.
The Dedham Vale Society wrote to the Tendring District Council to argue the Manningtree station expansion was unlawful.
Four years after the expansion, in February 2024, the council notified Greater Anglia that the development was unauthorized, requiring the company to demolish the 200-meter (656-foot) wall and excessively bright lights it had built.
However, this enforcement notice was withdrawn a mere three months later at the direction of the government. According to Railway Magazine, Protecting the Dedham Vale were told the government believed the project "would not be of a scale and nature likely to result in significant environmental effects."
As the campaigners noted, however, the wall "inhibited public access to St Edmund Way, an ancient pilgrimage path, generated light pollution and threatened habitats," per The Guardian. According to the Dedham Vale's official website, the area was designated a national landscape in 1970 "with the purpose of conserving and enhancing the habitats and biodiversity."
Light pollution disrupts wildlife and can reduce wildlife populations by interfering with reproduction, according to DarkSky. Building on a national landscape, including deforestation, reduces the available habitat for wildlife and contributes to disoriented wildlife species, as we've seen with koalas in Australia.
This campaign win enforces Section 245 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act of 2023, which calls for authorities to "attach greater weight to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the area comprised in the national park" in all affairs related to the natural landscape. This sets the precedent for ruling on future projects that may affect the United Kingdom's national parks and landscapes.
Courts of law help hold government officials and companies accountable for following environmental regulations and minimizing their environmental impact. For example, a federal court in Alaska blocked a lease sale for oil and gas development, while a British water supply company was fined for polluting a local body of water with raw sewage.
In the case of Greater Anglia's car park expansion project, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government Angela Rayner conceded that there was an "error of law" when the last government approved Greater Anglia's expansion project, per The Guardian.
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Definitely 👍 "It is important that public bodies understand the law affecting their decisions and the government-published guidance on the new protected landscape duty to help with this," a government spokesperson said, per The Guardian.
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