High costs deterring UK legal challenges to protect environment, NGOs say

Report by RSPB, ELF and Friends of the Earth say even cases with good prospects of success are being abandoned

Prohibitively high costs are pricing individuals and community groups out of bringing legal challenges to protect the environment, major NGOs say.

A joint report by the RSPB, the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) and Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, says cases raising concerns about loss of green space, wildlife habitat and the climate crisis have been abandoned because of fears about costs, even when they have good prospects of success. It suggests the number of environmental judicial review applications may have halved in a decade.