Sweetman v An Bord Pleanála
A project which would cause the lasting and irreparable loss of part of a priority natural habitat adversely affects the integrity of the site and cannot be authorised under article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive.
Facts
The Irish planning board granted permission for a road scheme around Galway, which would result in the permanent loss of about 1.5 hectares of limestone pavement, a priority habitat type, within the Lough Corrib special area of conservation. The total area of limestone pavement in the site was about 85 hectares. Mr Sweetman challenged the permission, arguing that the loss of the habitat would adversely affect the integrity of the site.
Legal principle
The Court of Justice held that the integrity of a site is preserved only if the natural habitats are maintained at a favourable conservation status, which requires the lasting preservation of the constitutive characteristics of the site. A project which would lead to the lasting and irreparable loss of the whole or part of a priority natural habitat type, whose conservation was the objective of the designation of the site, would adversely affect the integrity of the site. Such a project could be authorised only under article 6(4), for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, with compensatory measures.
Related cases on nature conservation and habitats
- Commission v Germany (Leybucht Dykes) Case C-57/89, [1991] ECR I-883
- Coöperatie Mobilisation for the Environment UA v College van gedeputeerde staten van Limburg Joined Cases C-293/17 and C-294/17, EU:C:2018:882
- Grace and Sweetman v An Bord Pleanála Case C-164/17, EU:C:2018:593
- Holohan v An Bord Pleanála Case C-461/17, EU:C:2018:883
- Landelijke Vereniging tot Behoud van de Waddenzee v Staatssecretaris van Landbouw (Waddenzee) Case C-127/02, [2004] ECR I-7405
- People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta Case C-323/17, EU:C:2018:244
- R (Morge) v Hampshire County Council [2011] UKSC 2, [2011] 1 WLR 268
- R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Lappel Bank) Case C-44/95, [1996] ECR I-3805
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