Westwater Advocates Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt QC and Donald Cameron acted for The John Muir Trust which has just succeeded in its judicial review challenge to a decision of the Scottish Ministers to grant consent to a 67 turbine wind farm in the Monadhliath mountain range in the Highlands.
Lord Jones has reduced the decision consenting the wind farm in a decision dated 4th December 2015, ruling that members of the public had been denied the opportunity to comment on revisals to the application suggested by The Highland Council for the proposed wind farm, and that Scottish Ministers did not take into account Scottish Natural Heritage’s objection in principle to any wind farm development at Stronelairg. In ruling on whether the Trust was entitled to challenge the consent granted by Ministers and on whether the Trust could be considered disadvantaged by the decision, Lord Jones concluded that the Trust was taking the action for the public good, saying, “The interest of any non-governmental organisation, such as the trust, is deemed sufficient. The question, therefore, is not whether the trust was prejudiced, but whether members of the public were prejudiced.”