Anti-opencast campaigner claims council ‘persecution’
A CAMPAIGNER against one of Europe’s biggest opencast coal mines has become one of the first people in the world to bring a case under a little-known international convention.
Solicitors acting for Elizabeth Condron have lodged a formal complaint under the Aarhus Convention against the UK Government.
The convention, which the Government has signed up to, guarantees citizens access to justice in environmental matters.
Mrs Condron has campaigned against the Ffos-y-Fran opencast site, near Merthyr Tydfil, which comes to within 40 metres of some residents’ homes.
She has been given permission to go to the Court of Appeal to challenge a judge’s decision to reject her attempt to get planning permission for an adjacent processing plant revoked. Mrs Condron argues that under European law, the council should have insisted on an environmental impact assessment of the plant before permission was granted.
Neighbours of the opencast site have complained that noise and dust from the site are intolerable.
Mrs Condron has been granted public funding by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to go to the Court of Appeal, but in an almost unprecedented move, Merthyr Council is challenging the decision of the LSC to fund the appeal.
Now the Aarhus Convention is investigating a complaint that by making the legal challenge, Merthyr Council has “penalised, persecuted and harassed” Mrs Condron. For protocol reasons, the complaint has been made formally against the UK Government. The Convention’s compliance committee, made of legal experts, has agreed to investigate the complaint.
This week a judge who studied case papers at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre rejected the council’s attempt to overturn the LSC’s decision to fund Mrs Condron, but the authority can still pursue the matter via a full court hearing.
Environmental lawyer Paul Stookes, who represents Mrs Condron, said: “The council’s attempt to get her public funding stopped is an unprecedented attempt to deprive her of her rights. The LSC does not approve legal aid lightly – around 80% of applications involving civil cases are turned down. There are rigorous checks, and after considering the circumstances of this case, the LSC decided Mrs Condron’s case had merit. The Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the case, which confirms it was a case worth supporting.
“If Merthyr Council’s challenge were successful, it would undermine the basis of the legal aid system. The worst case scenario from Mrs Condron’s point of view is that she could become liable for legal costs amounting to many thousands of pounds.
“It is our view that the council is clearly seeking to stop Mrs Condron from asserting her environmental rights under the Aarhus Convention. We have therefore lodged a formal complaint with the Convention’s secretariat and an investigation is now under way. I understand this is the first example ever of a complaint made under the terms of the convention.”
A spokesman for the Legal Services Commission said: “We fund more than two million civil and criminal cases every year. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has launched a judicial review in order to obtain details of the case brought by a legally aided client. Such cases are unusual and the LSC believes that it would be inappropriate to provide this information.
“The LSC is taking steps to robustly defend the judicial review. However, the LSC is unable to comment further on the case due to the possibility of prejudicing the on-going legal action.”
The council did not respond to our request for a statement.
The Aarhus Convention came into being in 2001, and has been signed by more than 40 countries plus the European Union. The Convention guarantees “rights of access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters”. Mrs Condron’s complaint has been made under Article 3(8) of the Convention, which states: “Each party shall ensure that persons exercising their rights in conformity of the provisions of this Convention shall not be penalised, persecuted or harassed in any way for their involvement”.
From: Wales Online
