A Herefordshire environmental campaigner has been told he can take his legal battle against a planned cattle shed to England’s highest court.
The campaigner, who asked not to be named for fear of local intimidation, has been given leave to appeal against a High Court judgment which would have permitted the shed for up to 80 cattle at Bage Court Farm, Dorstone, in the Golden Valley.
He argued that Herefordshire Council’s granting of planning permission for the shed in June 2020 was unlawful, as it would entail manure being spread on fields and potentially running off into protected watercourses.
The council failed to carry out an “appropriate assessment” of potential impacts to the river Wye special area of conservation (SAC), or even screening for such impacts, as required by law, he maintains.
The council ecologist’s belief that no such screening was required was based on a mapping tool provided by Natural England. But the campaigner claims this tool, or the use of it, must have been at fault, given the farm’s location.
The council was also wrong to disregard any effects of the development on the SAC simply because the development did not itself lie within the SAC, he maintains.
His original application for judicial review of the council’s decision was dismissed in the High Court last August. But now his permission to appeal has been granted, and will be heard by the Court of Appeal later this year, at a date yet to be set.
Ricardo Gama, solicitor at law firm Leigh Day which is representing the campaigner, said: “We know that the current protections of riverine habitats are failing to prevent their ecological degradation – a situation made even worse when existing laws are not properly enforced.
“We therefore hope that this appeal with provide legal clarity as to the correct approach to screening out impacts of agricultural and other developments which will lead to run-offs or discharges into this important habitat.”
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