A5 road upgrade: Plans breach goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Ireland, court told

Counsel for a group of residents and landowners claimed it was irrational to give the go-ahead for the first phase of the dual carriageway scheme due to the potential adverse impact on climate change targets.

The long-awaited development on the main corridor between Derry and Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone received the green light from former Stormont Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd in October last year.

With 57 deaths recorded on the A5 since 2006, campaigners have been pressing for the improvements to be carried out.

The 53-mile upgrade, which forms part of a proposed key cross-border business route linking Dublin and the north west, has already been held up by previous legal actions.

An umbrella body of landowners, farmers and supporters known as the Alternative A5 Alliance successfully challenged earlier decisions to approve the project in 2013 and again in 2018.

Fresh judicial review proceedings have been brought against the Department for Infrastructure by nine individuals on behalf of the Alliance.

As the hearing got underway, several hundred people took part in a rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice in support of the scheme.

They included relatives of some of those killed in crashes on the stretch of road.

Opening the case for the Alternative A5 Alliance, Marc Willers KC stressed: “Nothing I say should be taken as an attack on the position taken by the families, we are truly sorry for their loss.”

Instead, he submitted, it was about establishing whether the Minister’s decision stands up to judicial scrutiny.

The barrister directed his initial focus on the Climate Change (Northern Ireland) Act 2022, which contains a series of interim targets moving towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The court heard how a Planning Appeals Commission inquiry into the A5 upgrade recommended against proceeding with the scheme unless the Department was satisfied it would not undermine those goals

No reasonable authority could have concluded there was enough information to demonstrate the targets would still be met if the scheme was approved, according to the Alliance’s case.

Mr Willers contended: “We challenge the decision taken by the Department on the basis that it amounts to a breach of Section 52(1) of the Climate Change Act 2022, and on the basis that it was irrational.”

Citing the already challenging climate target, he argued that construction work and increased traffic on the new road could result in increased greenhouse gas emissions.

The net-zero objectives contained in the Act are mandatory, he insisted.

“It is a legal imperative, unless (the Department) can demonstrate with such precision that it will not prevent or prejudice those statutory targets being met,” Mr Willers added

Further grounds of challenge in the case allege: a breach of planning regulations; a breach of habitats regulations by failing to take an appropriately precautionary approach to the impact on the Tully Bog conservation area; a failure to further consult the public; and a breach of the group’s Article 8 human rights.

As the hearing continued, a solicitor for the Alliance also described the case as an attempt to protect the environment and safeguard Special Conservation Areas.

Speaking outside court, Ciaran O’Hare of McIvor Farrell said: “My clients respectfully submit that it would be much more pragmatic, less controversial and ecologically-sound to upgrade the existing A5 road.

“Northern Ireland is already one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world… to literally bulldoze nature and permanently scar the land would be unethical and a cause for great regret.” ends