The overwhelming majority of responses received by environmental NGOs and private firms condemn the MoJ’s proposal to change to the Civil Procedures Rules in respect of costs in environmental cases. This step would take England and Wales into non-compliance with the EU law transposing the Aarhus Convention on decision-making in environmental matters. Both private firms and NGOs have requested information from the MoJ to support its claim that the current process of cost recovery either frustrates the economy or is abused by civil society or environmental campaigners. In fact, statistics obtained from the MoJ in 2015 confirm that environmental cases represent less than 1% of the total number of JRs lodged annually and they demonstrate good success rates. Enabling access to justice to citizens without them having to face excessively expensive costs is an essential ingredient of a democratic society and the ongoing measures to undermine protection processes offend the rule of law.
