RSPB Scotland Takes Offshore Wind Dispute Straight to Supreme Court

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Scotland has applied directly to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal against the recent decision by the Inner House of the Court of Session on its Firth of Forth offshore wind farm judicial review.

The Inner House allowed the appeal of Scottish Ministers’ decision, overturning the Outer House’ ruling in favour of the RSPB Scotland and reinstating the 2014 consents for four large offshore wind projects in the Firths of Forth and Tay – Inch Cape, Seagreen Alpha, Seagreen Bravo and Neart na Gaoithe – totalling 2,284MW of capacity

RSPB Scotland said that ”Scottish Ministers issued consents for all four projects in 2014, even though predicted impacts could result in major declines to our internationally renowned seabird colonies including gannets, puffins and kittiwakes that breed and forage in the region.”

RSPB launched a legal challenge against the approval of four wind farms by the Scottish Ministers in January 2015.

“RSPB Scotland has not taken this decision lightly, however our concerns with the manner in which Scottish Ministers’ took their decisions in 2014 remain undiminished,” Anne McCall, Director, RSPB Scotland, said.

”Additionally, the issues of the case and the recent Inner House judgement extend beyond simply the impacts of these developments on important seabird populations. Therefore due to the implications of this latest decision for many aspects of our work we felt we had no choice but to apply to the Supreme Court. We are hopeful that our application is successful and that we are granted leave to appeal so these important issues of public interest can be considered in detail by the Supreme Court.”