COURT OF APPEAL GRANTS SASES PERMISSION TO APPEAL

SASES believes Scottish Power & National Grids EA1N & EA2 wind farm developments represent a dangerous local flood risk and fail to deal with many issues of cumulative impact.

SASES sought judicial review of  BEIS Secretary of State (Kwasi Kwarteng’s) decision to grant development consent orders for EA1N and EA2 wind farms which included substations and a National Grid connection hub being built at Friston.

At the end of 2022 six grounds were submitted for judicial review including: flood risk, cumulative impact and noise. Judge Lang in the High Court found against SASES on all grounds however we considered the judgment was defective in key areas.

SASES sought permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal. Securing permission to appeal is far from automatic. The Court of Appeal has to consider
a) that the appeal will have a real prospect of success; or
b) there is some other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard.

Given this SASES is pleased to report permission has been granted to appeal on the two grounds of flood risk and cumulative impact. The date of the hearing has not yet been fixed but it will be some months away.

Scottish Power and National Grid will have been reminded once again that this is a determined and resourceful community which, whilst 100 per cent supportive of affordable renewable energy and the need for energy security, demands that such development is brought forward competently, transparently and without causing unnecessary environmental damage.