Good morning!
Last week, after months of spinning things out, Defra finally conceded that the issuing of licences for gamebird releases at the Deben Estuary and in Breckland in 2023 was unlawful. This is what Wild Justice has argued for months and months. Defra is paying Wild Justice’s costs up to the Aarhus threshold of £35,000. Yesterday, the court sealed the consent order, which means we can now begin to tell you more.
The 27 unlawful licenses were issued at the time that Therese Coffey was Secretary of State at Defra and we told you in Wild Justice newsletter 169, back on 14 November 2023, that Coffey had sought advice from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, a pro-shooting organisation, and favoured their advice over that of Natural England, her own Defra officials and instead of seeking expert help from RSPB or BTO. Lord Benyon, a keen shooter himself, and former trustee of GWCT, signed many of the licences now conceded as unlawful.
In that same newsletter we wrote 'Defra ministers ... just turned to their mates in the pro-shooting GWCT to advise them on whether they should allow gamebird release licences to large landowners, many of whom will be supporters of GWCT. This is hardly a source of expertise, and hardly a neutral source of advice.'.
We also wrote 'With the departure of Dr Coffey, the new Secretary of State and the Government Legal Department should take a hard look at whether they really want to defend Defra's decision making, and whether the public interest is best served by so doing.'. It has taken five months for them to bow to the inevitable and concede the case.
Wild Justice challenged the lawfulness of these licences on three grounds. Defra has now conceded on the first ground and admitted that the issuing of these licences was unlawful because the ministers involved could show ‘no cogent reasons’ why Natural England’s advice was not heeded. We interpret Defra’s words on Ground 2 as a concession too. We also believe that had this case gone to court then we would have won on the Ground 3 too – but we’ll never know. See our blog to read the consent order and more legal details of our win -
click here.
Let’s be quite clear here – Defra ministers did not adhere to the legal requirements of the Habitats Directive and the advice of their own conservation agency. Not only that; they were unable to give good reasons for why they didn’t.
Does it matter? Yes, it always matters if politicians act unlawfully. Yes, it matters when the most powerful politicians running government departments act unlawfully. And yes it matters very much if there is any suspicion that ministers are ignoring the law in order to please particular interest groups.
Wild Justice is pleased to have taken this legal challenge, and very pleased to have won it! This victory helps to remind all public bodies that they are subject to the law, not above the law. When a tiny organisation like Wild Justice (working with brilliant lawyers) faces down a powerful government department this helps to create a landscape of fear in Whitehall, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. Respect for the law is always helped by strong enforcement. This outcome was only possible because of a legal challenge.
We will reveal some of the documents relating to Defra’s decision-making over the next few weeks.
Wild Justice said:
‘Defra had ‘No cogent reasons’ to disregard Natural England’s expert advice. So to find out that Therese Coffey and Richard Benyon have licensed releases of pheasants and partridges into what are supposed to be some of our most precious places, against that advice – and during a catastrophic outbreak of bird flu – it frankly reeks of both recklessness and arrogance. It seems to us they may have had more regard for the interests of the shooting industry than those of the environment in this matter.
Natural England has faced legal challenges by Wild Justice in each of the past five years, but in this case we support them and have stood up for them.
We challenged these decisions because government is bound by the law, just as the rest of us are. We shall expose more about this reprehensible behaviour over the next few weeks.’.
This is a big win for Wild Justice. Wild Justice depends on donations to carry out our work, including taking costly legal cases. If you like what we do then please consider making a donation through PayPal, bank transfer or a cheque in the post - see details here.
Thank you!
Wild Justice (Directors: Mark Avery, Chris Packham and Ruth Tingay).
This is the 184th Wild Justice newsletter.
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