Crowd-funded campaign secures JR hearing over hazardous waste site

Local environmental campaigners have gained permission to judicially review Secretary of State's decision to allow the expansion of a hazardous waste site in Lancashire.

The crowdfunded case seeks to challenge permission given by then communities secretary Greg Clark for Whitemoss Landfill to extend a hazardous waste landfill site near Skelmersdale after this was rejected by both West Lancashire Borough Council and Lancashire County Council.

Whitemoss argued that its application constituted nationally significant infrastructure and so should be decided by Mr Clark.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England’s Lancashire branch said the Court of Appeal had given permission to challenge Mr Clark’s decision to allow the relevant development consent order after this was refused several times by lower courts.

It said the main issue was that the planning policy sees a need in principle for hazardous waste sites, but that this did not mean that a developer could claim that there was a need for a site of any size in a specific location without proving that the specific site was needed.

Lindblom LJ said the case had implications for nationally significant infrastructure projects and needed to be heard in full.

Whitemoss Landfill managing director Rob Routledge said: “The secretary of state granted consent for the extension at Whitemoss in May 2015. That decision allowed us to continue our important work in ensuring that brownfield sites can be brought back into use for much needed homes and that by-products from recycling processes can be dealt with safely.

“The judicial review is in relation to the secretary of state’s interpretation of the Government’s National Policy Statement. This is a matter for others to debate, but we hope all matters are resolved soon.”