UK: The Impact Of Changes To Cost Capping In Planning And Environmental Claims

The article discusses the recent High Court ruling re-imposing fixed costs for disputes in planning and environmental cases and thus overturning rules previously introduced by the Ministry of Justice. A compact overview on the background to the ruling is given, aiming to hint on the great impact of the same. It does so by delving into previous amendments i.e. when the Civil Procedure Rules were amended to enable claims that fell within the Aarhus Convention (claims within with a broad definition of environmental matters). The article goes on to recall the grounds of the challenge of these provisions by a number of environmental groups, claiming a breach of the Aarhus Convention.