Wild Justice's failure is a victory for the countryside

The High Court's ruling that Natural Resources Wales' (NRW) General Licences to control wild birds are lawful, following a legal challenge by campaigning body Wild Justice, is a resounding success for the rural community, and it is one that has been welcomed by those responsible for managing the countryside. So too is the news that Wild Justice has now been ordered to pay £10,000 legal costs to NRW following their loss in the High Court.

All wild birds are protected by law, but in certain circumstances where there is no satisfactory non-lethal solution, lethal control methods can be authorised under licence. However Wild Justice claimed that the General Licences issued by NRW for the purpose of preventing serious damage or disease to crops or livestock, protecting public health, and for the conservation of certain wild bird species were unlawful.

The rejection by Judge Harman QC of all three of Wild Justice's claims that NRW's General Licences were unlawful, and his description of the current approach as 'rational', means that they can continue to be used as a means to control certain pest bird species. The ruling has been welcomed by conservationists, farmers and pest controllers, for whom the Licences are a vital tool, and it is a perfect example of the ongoing work of shooting organisations to challenge Wild Justice's attempts to advance an anti-shooting agenda under the guise of concern for wildlife in the courts. It is also another defeat for Wild Justice and its methods, the organisation having recently been admonished by the High Court in England.

The £10,000 costs awarded to NRW is the most available under the Aarhus Convention, which sets a cap on environmental cases. Sadly, this is just a fraction of what it will have cost to successfully challenge Wild Justice's legal challenge; money that could have been so much better spent at a time of unprecedented national hardship, with the coronavirus pandemic impacting on the lives and livelihoods of so many. But Covid-19 was not going to prevent Wild Justice from launching its legal challenge against NRW, and neither did it stop them from launching an appeal to raise the £42,500 that it needed to mount its challenge.

Although the Alliance could have applied to the High Court to be an Interested Party in this Judicial Review of NRW's General Licences, we were already involved in other Judicial Reviews in England and Wales. We are therefore very grateful to BASC for fighting this legal challenge, and helping NRW defend the case.