‘Totally without merit’: Judge rejects environmental challenge against Sizewell C nuclear plant
The government’s decision to grant development consent for the Sizewell C nuclear plant was lawful, a high court judge today ruled.
Justice Holgate has quashed a protracted legal challenge from localist campaigners on environmental grounds, which he said was, in parts, “totally without merit”.
In a blistering ruling, he knocked back the campaigners’ claims over water supplies and energy policy.
Together Against Sizewell C (TASC)– chiefly consisting of local residents – launched a judicial review on environmental grounds after the government granted development consent to the mooted £20bn-plus project in Suffolk last July.
At a court hearing in March, lawyers for the group argued the government had failed to oversee the potential environmental impact of providing an “essential” water supply for Sizewell C.
They also suggested the government did not consider alternative solutions to meeting its energy and climate change objectives.
The judge said there was “nothing artificial or unlawfully limiting” about a policy aimed at providing a mix of solar, wind and nuclear power.
The government countered that it made “legitimate planning judgments” for Sizewell C’s development.
Now, Justice Holgate has dismissed the campaigner’s challenge and said several parts of its argument were “totally without merit”.
He determined the government’s approach to the water supply, which would be dealt with under a separate process, was lawful.
He said: “The claimant’s argument depends upon an illegitimate attempt to rewrite the government’s policy aims by pretending that the central policy objective is at a higher level of abstraction, namely to produce clean energy, without any regard to diversity of energy sources and security of supply.
“But it is not the role of a claimant, or the court, to rewrite government policy, or to airbrush objectives of that policy which are plainly of ‘central’ or ‘core’ or ‘essential’ importance.”
Following the verdict, TASC was ordered to pay £10,000 towards government costs.
Sizewell C is a proposed 3.2GW nuclear power plant overseen by French energy giant EDF, which holds a 50 per cent stake matched by the government, which has already backed the project with a £700m stake.
The design is near identical to under-construction Hinkley Point C and is expected to generate low-carbon electricity to supply 6m homes.
It is a vital cog in the government’s nuclear ambitions, as it looks to bolster its ageing fleet and ramp up generation to 24GW.
The decision paves the way for Sizewell C’s construction, with no government and legislative hurdles remaining.
Instead, its now a matter of securing financing, and whether EDF will go forward with an FID.
TASC told City PM it remains “resolute” in the determination to fight the “monstrous Sizewell C development” despite the judicial review verdict.
Chairperson, Jenny Kirtley, said ‘Naturally, TASC is disappointed, but this verdict does not signal the end of our efforts. The Suffolk Heritage Coast cannot be sacrificed for such an unnecessary and inappropriate development, and we will examine every avenue of opposition until all are exhausted’.
The government, Sizewell C and EDF have been approached for comment.