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Decision upheld on the application of Bateman V South Cambridgeshire District Council

The Court of Appeal (Mummery LJ, Moore-Bick LJ, Jackson LJ) has given important guidance on the need for sufficiently clear reasons to be given for a local authority’s decision on a screening opinion that an environmental impact assessment is not required.

The Claimants (Mr and Mrs Bateman) had applied for judicial review of a decision of the local planning authority granting planning permission to the interested party (Camgrain Storage Limited).  Camgrain had applied for a screening opinion as to whether the development whether an EIA was required within the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999.  The local authority had stated that in its opinion the development would not be "likely to have significant effects on the environment" and that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was not required. The letter was accompanied by a statement from a planning officer giving a number of reasons for the decision.  The Claimants’ main argument was that the planning officer gave no reasons for her conclusion that there would not be significant environmental effects in relation to relevant environmental impacts but essentially simply stated a conclusion.  Thus, the reasons accompanying the screening opinion did not contact sufficient reasoning to satisfy the requirements of the Regulations and Directive 85/337, was illogical and irrational and did not give sufficient reasoning to comply with  R (on the application of Mellor) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (C-75/08) (2010) PTSR 880 ECJ , in that it did not provide sufficient information to enable anyone interested in the decision to see that proper consideration had been given to the possible environmental effects of the development and to understand the reasons for the decision.

The Court of Appeal (Lord Mummery dissenting) upheld the application and quashed the planning decision.
Richard Drabble QC and Sasha Blackmore appeared for the Claimants.