Assessing pending Supreme Court verdict in a Surrey oil field case—Property Week
Senior associate Catherine Knight is quoted in Property Week in an article exploring the possible impact of a pending Supreme Court verdict in the case of Finch vs Surrey County Council on the UK’s planning laws.
The case concerns Horse Hill in Surrey, situated a few miles north of Gatwick Airport, and centres on the long-term impacts of new developments on the backdrop of the climate debate.
Currently, planning applications must include an environmental impact assessment (EIA), set to be replaced by environmental outcome reports (EORs) as outlined in the 2023 Levelling-up and Regeneration Act, which will address the limitations of the EIA process.
Catherine comments on the implications this change could have for future planning policy:
What is clear is that EORs will apply at the strategic level to assessments of relevant plans – for example, local plans, planning applications under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project applications under the Planning Act 2008 – and will shift the focus of the reporting to an ‘outcome-based’ approach and consistency in reporting considerations across the planning spectrum.”
The full article is available to read online via an online PDF from Property Week.
Catherine Knight is a senior associate in the real estate, planning and construction team advising on a range of planning matters including appeals and judicial challenges, planning applications, development agreements and planning policy. She also has experience assisting on environmental and biodiversity impact assessments.
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