THE way in which the Government allowed work to begin on Ash Moor Pit during the height of the foot and mouth crisis before carrying out an environmental impact assessment has been referred to the European Court of Justice.
A report prepared by Barnstaple-based solicitors Toller Beattie on behalf of the STAMP (Stop the Ash Moor Pit) pressure group has led to the European Commission putting the issue before the Court of Justice.
Peter Scott, head of environmental law with Toller Beattie and a joint complainant with the late Ron Dawson of STAMP said: ?This development was allowed to go ahead in breach of European law without an environmental impact assessment because the UK had not passed legislation to put DEFRA under a duty to carry out an environmental impact assessment to give local residents a right to be consulted on it before a decision was made.
?Our complaint showed that there was a big gap in UK legislation for the protection of the environment, and the European Commission has now decided to take the UK to the European Court because that gap has still not been filled,? said Mr Scott.
?This sort of bureaucratic bungling has to stop and stop quickly, and the Crown has to get planning permission after an environmental impact assessment like anyone else,? he added.
The European Commission states: ?Failure to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment means that citizens lose an opportunity to provide comments, and it may mean that the best way of protecting the environment is overlooked.?
The Commission said the UK authorities had acknowledged the need to prepare the necessary legislation to close the existing loophole on Crown immunity. ?However, the best-case scenario for adoption is at the end of 2005,? said a spokesperson for the Commission.
?This means that the loophole in the UK?s legislation will persist for quite a while, which is not acceptable to the Commission.
?It puts members of the public in the UK at a disadvantage in exercising their rights under the EIA Directive with regard to developments on Crown Land. The Commission will therefore refer the UK to the Court of Justice.?
A spokesperson for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said the Government was aware that the commission was dealing with the matter though it was only pursuing the technical issue of Crown immunity and how that affected environmental impact assessments.