The Court of Appeal Finds no Error in Environmental Permit for NSIP Waste Facility in Bedfordshire

Lindblom LJ gave the court's judgment in BACI's appeal against the judgment of Lang J in the High Court dismissing its claim that an environmental permit in respect of nationally-significant waste facility was vitiated by an error of fact and/or erroneous science. In particular, while the court agreed with the judge below that there had been an error in the application materials suggesting that heavy metals would not be expected to dissolve, it agreed with Lang J that the Environment Agency had not adopted the error. The permit was lawful and the court found that any error had played no part in the Agency's decision. In such circumstances the appeal had to be dismissed.

Daniel Stedman Jones acted for the claimant, BACI, and Richard Harwood QC for the Interested Party developer, Covanta.

The judgment may be read in full here.