From The Times

February 16, 2007

Court victory by Greenpeace fails to dampen ministers' nuclear ambition

Lewis Smith, Philip Webster and Christine Buckley

Ministers vowed yesterday to press ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations despite an embarrassing rebuff from the courts for a key part of Tony Blair’s legacy.

Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, bowed to a High Court ruling that the Government’s process of consulting the public and interested groups was “seriously flawed”.

Mr Justice Sullivan ruled in favour of Greenpeace against the Government over the decision to back the construction of up to ten nuclear generators. He said that the Department of Trade and Industry had acted unlawfully because it had failed to keep its promise to carry out the “fullest consultation” before reaching a decision.

Mr Darling promised a new round of public consultation over the future of nuclear energy. He said that it seemed best to accept the court’s verdict but to put the process of building more nuclear power plants “back on track” as soon as possible.

The ruling was a blow to the Government and led to renewed criticism of the way that key decisions have been taken under Mr Blair. He has been accused of deciding issues with his advisers and only then presenting them to Parliament and the public.

Despite the setback, it became clear yesterday that Mr Blair and ministers have no intention of being swayed from their view that new nuclear stations will be necessary. The Prime Minister had publicly backed nuclear energy as a low-carbon solution to meet Britain’s energy demands.

Shortages are possible from as early as 2017 because of the number of ageing nuclear and other power stations that are being put out of commission.

By 2020 an estimated 30 per cent of present capacity, amounting to about 25 giga-watts, is expected to have been shut down and the Government has pinned its hopes on nuclear generators making up the shortfall. Ministers remain committed to increasing renewable energy but believe that it would not be enough to make up for lost capacity.

The feasible alternative to nuclear power, they argue, is conventional coal and gas-burning stations, but they produce huge quantities of carbon dioxide, which is held largely responsible for global warming.

In his ruling Mr Justice Sullivan said the consultation exercise held before last year’s Energy Review had been “manifestly inadequate” and “procedurally unfair”. He said: “Something has gone clearly and radically wrong.”

The consultation document, he said, contained no actual proposals and the information given to the public was “wholly insufficient for them to make an intelligent response”.

Alan Duncan, the Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, described it as “an astonishing ruling” that highlighted how the Government’s approach to consulting with the public had been “fundamentally deceitful”.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, said it was a “real slap in the face for the Prime Minister’s sofa style of government”.

Greenpeace activists were ecstatic and said that the judgment would force the Government to rethink its approach to public consultations.

It remained unclear how much delay the ruling would cause, with DTI officials hinting that rather than take place before the energy White Paper any new proposals would be contained within it. Nevertheless, there were concerns that businesses and investors would lose confidence in the Government’s handling of the issue.

Mike Parker, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said that new nuclear power was the best option to tackle climate change. “We still face increasing insecurity in our energy supplies and rising greenhouse gas emissions. What this ruling may do, however, is to delay action to deal with these problems.”

The ruling could hamper the efforts of British Energy, Britain’s main nuclear generator, to find partners including private equity to work on projects because of the lack of clarity.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, was dismayed by the ruling because he is concerned that delays will damage attempts to ensure the country has enough power. “Energy security is one of the most vital issues facing the country so proper consultation is vital — but so too is early action,” he said. “The last thing we need is further hold-ups.”

And a spokesman for British Energy said: “We’re very disappointed in today’s ruling although this must not detract from the fact that the country is facing a forthcoming and very serious energy gap.”