Respond now to the government consultation! (Closes 10th December) The government is consulting on changing the costs involved in environmental legal cases, making it very financially risky for communities to bring judicial reviews. If the changes go through, many communities fighting environmental destruction will get priced out of justice altogether. The caps which restrict the amount individuals and communities are liable to pay are proposed to double (plus additional hidden costs), and those bringing cases won’t find out whether costs are eligible for capping or what the cap will be until they are much further through the process and already committed to bringing the case. Some of you will know that judicial review is a crucial tactic that communities can use to challenge Government decisions that threaten their local environment. Even the threat of judicial review can force decision-makers to think twice about going against local people’s wishes. In Balcombe, taking West Sussex County Council to a Judicial Review was an extremely important part of our ongoing battle against Cuadrilla. Unfortunately, despite having a very good case, we did not win. However, it is actions like this that make governments and public bodies realise they must be accountable for their actions. This is quite possibly why they are trying to make the process harder! The Ministry of Justice consultation is written in incredibly technical language which makes it very inaccessible to non-lawyers, presumably to stop too many people responding. But we think communities involved in campaigning need their voices heard too. The Friends of the Earth lawyers have produced some great guidance to help you understand the consultation, and put in a response if you want to: https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/guide-responding-environmental-costs-consultation-92775.pdf If you could submit a response to the consultation it would help show the strength of feeling on this. The more individual responses that come in the better. However, if you were to respond to every question apart from 14 and 15 with 'I wish no changes to the current system to be made', you would be lodging your dissatisfaction with the proposed changes. The consultation itself can be found below: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/costs-protection-in-environmental-claims John Ashton has contacted us with his analysis of just how important this issue is: 'The measures under consultation are part of a much wider strategy to make it harder to challenge whatever the Government wants to do. We have in our national culture an ugly tendency on the part of those who have power to close down dissent. The Combination Acts of the late 18th century were a classic example, but the cultural reflexes go back to feudal times. They come to the fore from time to time and are rampant at the moment. Other pieces of this jigsaw include the Lobbying Act, the weakening of FoI (Freedom of Information) rights, the cuts in legal aid, the rigging of the planning process, and of course the stealthy tilting of the playing field in the way legislation is written (the requirement to “maximise economic recovery”, the narrower definition of fracking to allow companies to do it while pretending it’s not fracking, etc). This effort goes way beyond unconventional oil and gas. Access to justice for example will increasingly be limited to those with deep pockets. But the more effectively we resist on fracking, the better for the wider struggle to defend our democratic inheritance and structures. We saw with the Infrastructure Act how cynical the government has become about consultations. They are quite happy to ignore overwhelming public responses if they think they can get away with it. But it’s still worth fighting these changes every step of the way. It puts up the political price of defying the people. And every now and then they overreach and have to withdraw, as they have just done on court fees. Indeed, I think one of our most potent weapons is their growing hubris. In additional to trench warfare on consultations like this, the more we can tell a powerful story about why our campaigns matter for our democracy and the quality of our national life (as well as all the other things they matter for) the stronger we’ll become.' From 2006-12 John Ashton served as Special Representative for Climate Change for three successive UK Foreign Secretaries, spanning the recent Coalition and the previous Labour Governments. Fracking in and under special places Finally the House of Commons looks set to wave through the final stages of the infrastructure act any day now. If you have not yet contacted your MP about this then please do let them know that the only way to protect areas from fracking is a complete ban in and under those areas as January’s Infrastructure Bill originally promised. At the moment the act will allow fracking below 1,200m in protected areas. Our MP, Jeremy Quin, does not oppose this. He has written to Balcombe residents, 'On the question of fracking being permitted below 1,200 metres below National Parks and other protected areas I know there are different views but I do not oppose the principle.' Maybe this is something in particular we could write to him about. Bizarrely, after much pressure from opposition MPs, the government launched a further consultation on allowing fracking on the surface of protected areas. Please do respond to voice your concern. This consultation closes on December 16th. Here’s a link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473795/Consultation_Surface_Restrictions_-_04_11_2015_FINAL.pdf Lancashire As we feared all along, it looks as if the Secretary of State will intervene and make the final decision in Lancashire on whether or not Cuadrilla will be able to drill and frack. Cuadrilla are currently appealing Lancashire County Council’s decision not to let them frack at two sites, (Preston New Road and Rosacre Wood.) Greenpeace are running a petition on this, which you could sign: https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/greg-clark?source=em&subsource=20151127fraem01&utm_source=gpeace&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=20151127fraem01 As always, encourage anyone you can to join Ecotricity, if we all 'divest' our own energy from fossil fuels we send a strong message that actively discourages fossil fuel energy production.