"Environmental justice at risk as Westminster debates controversial bill", 14 July 2014

...The compatibility of [the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill] with the Aarhus Convention...is crucial. The…Convention requires the UK to provide the public with access to environmental justice that is fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive. Current UK laws have already been found to fall short of the requirements of the convention, and this bill is set to make matters worse...It is...important that members of the public – not just big companies…are able to take disputes to court...[The Bill] contains a number of provisions which aim to make it more difficult for claimants to bring judicial review proceedings against public bodies...[It] will mean that only those with plenty of money will be able to intervene in judicial cases and not-for-profit organisations will no longer be able to contribute...[T]he Bill must contain a provision which excludes Aarhus Convention claims from the new rules...[and it] is a good opportunity to take start rectifying the UK's failures to comply with the Aarhus Convention...