ANOTHER COURTROOM SUCCESS FOR WILD JUSTICE

Good afternoon! Today’s newsletter arrives later than usual because we’ve been waiting for an official announcement from the High Court in Wales – and it is definitely news worth waiting for! Following our legal challenge in June, today the court has ruled that planning permission for an outdoor adventure centre near Ceibwr Bay, which sits within the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) on the Pembrokeshire Coast, was granted unlawfully. Members of the local community from Moylgrove outside the Haverford West courts in June 2025 The Hon Mr Justice Eyre has found that the decision made by the Management Committee of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority to grant planning permission was unlawful for two reasons. First, he found that a position statement and 2024 survey of breeding birds published by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) had not been made available to the Committee before approval was given, which was unlawful. Second, he agreed that the Committee had not been properly informed about the impact of the development on the Aberath-Carreg Wylan SSSI. In court we had argued that the coasteering activities set to operate from the new adventure hub had the potential to disturb Choughs – and Choughs are a species that make this SSSI so special. Our successful legal challenge means the planning permission for the adventure hub has been quashed. This means that if the developer wants to proceed, a new planning application will need to be submitted and the Committee will need to address the unlawfulness identified as a result of our legal challenge, i.e. the Committee will need to see the NRW report on the effect of coasteering on breeding seabirds AND be informed about the potential impacts on the features of the SSSI so it can properly weigh that in the balance. We’re delighted for the members of the local community at Ceibwr Bay who have been fighting for the protection of this special place for over a decade. Well done to them! We’d like to say special thanks to ecologists Dr Rob Thomas and Ian Carter for their willingness to share their expertise and help us to build this case, and win it! And a huge thank you to our brilliant legal team who continue to represent us with outstanding professionalism, strategic thinking and dedication – the result speaks for itself. Thank you Ricky Gama, Carol Day and Julia Eriksen at Leigh Day, David Wolfe KC at Matrix Chambers and Barney McCay at Landmark Chambers. You can read our full press release on the good news – click here. We’re Choughed (sorry, not sorry) to bits with this win, and we’ll leave you with a quote from Chris: “An important victory for wildlife and biodiversity can be seen here, ably assisted by a brilliant local campaign, Wild Justice and our fabulous legal team. Fun is fine - but not when it endangers important and diminishing populations of birds and mammals. This proposal was flawed, improperly presented and thus ill considered. I hope this is a sign that the UK is waking up to its responsibilities to properly protect nature and sensibly mitigate against destroying it when clear alternatives are possible. It should also empower communities everywhere to recognise that they have the power to stand up and say ‘no’. Let’s hear it for the Razorbills, Guillemots and Gulls!” P.S. For those of you with tickets to attend the inaugural Wild Summit at the Bristol Beacon next Thursday – you can now pre-register for our event: Past, Pheasant, Future. It’s set to be phun, phactual and Pheasant-philled, so please pop your name down as spaces are strictly limited! We’re on from 13.00-13.45 on the Lantern Hall Stage. Thank you! Wild Justice (CEO: Bob Elliot. Directors: Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay). This is the 251st Wild Justice newsletter. This email was sent to you because you subscribed to it through the Wild Justice website or through an e-action or a petition where you ticked a box. Thank you. We will only use your personal details to send you the Wild Justice newsletter. We will not give or sell your details to anyone else. You can unsubscribe at any time: there is an unsubscribe button at the foot of this email or you can reply to this email and ask us to remove you from the list (the former will happen immediately, the latter might take a few days). 9 Lawson St Raunds Wellingborough Northants NN9 6NG UNITED KINGDOM Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options