Law digests: 3 December 2021

Animal protection

R (on the application of Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) v Natural England; R (on the application of Avery v Natural England [2021] EWCA Civ 1637, [2021] All ER (D) 75 (Nov)

The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the appellants’ appeals against the dismissal of their judicial review claims, challenging the lawfulness of the respondent Natural England’s grant of a licence to conduct a trial into the brood management of hen harriers, pursuant to s 16(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA 1981), and the grant of a second licence, continuing the first one. The Court of Appeal held, among other things, that the Administrative Court had correctly held that: (i) the application was properly considered as one for permission to carry out a research project falling within WCA 1981, s 16(1)(a) and not a conservation project under WCA 1981, s 16(1)(c); (ii) Natural England was required to consider alternative solutions for obtaining the evidence and not alternative conservation techniques; (iii) brood management was not designed