Ms Angela Denning:

Under the Aarhus Convention, there is a protective costs order in relation to environmental matters. Now that the Supreme Court has found under the Heather Hill decision, anyone bringing proceedings relating to environmental matters is entitled to not have to pay costs that are prohibitively expensive. In some cases, this means the court will make an assessment of your ability to pay. In most cases what we are finding now is that, if it is an environmental case and the applicant is of good standing, the respondent is tending to just consent to the making of a protective costs order at the outset of the proceedings.