Court hearing for Wild Justice’s legal challenge against Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Wild Justice argues that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s claim to Parliament that the bill will not reduce environmental protections was unlawful.

The campaign group’s legal team will spell out why their claim for judicial review should be given the go ahead in a hearing to be held in November 2025. 

In June 2025, Wild Justice issued a judicial review challenge to Ms Rayner’s statement.  

In its legal challenge, Wild Justice refers to a legal opinion from expert planning barristers, which states that the bill will weaken existing levels of environmental protection in law.  

The case also lists the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) as an interested party in the claim, which has previously advised that the bill in its original form would be a “regression” for environmental protections. 

Wild Justice has called on the Deputy Prime Minister to correct her statement to Parliament in March 2025, now recorded as published guidance on the bill, which claims that it would make a “positive contribution to nature recovery”.  

The claim is set to be defended by the government solely on the basis that the original statement is protected by parliamentary privilege, which Wild Justice argues does not extend to the published guidance on the bill.  

On 17 July, the government published amendments to some aspects of the bill in an attempt to address concerns with it.  

Wild Justice says that the amendments do not go far enough, and The Wildlife Trusts has described them as "a welcome step forward, but not the end of the road".   

The High Court has confirmed that the permission hearing for Wild Justice’s case will take place on 6 November 2025. 

Bob Elliot, CEO Wild Justice said: 

“We are pleased that we have secured permission to continue with our legal challenge and will have an opportunity to present our arguments to hold the government accountable. We need to ensure that environmental protections are not sacrificed for short-term development interests.” 

Leigh Day solicitor Carol Day, who represents Wild Justice, said: 

“The government’s defence of this case relies solely on parliamentary privilege. It does not include a rebuttal of Wild Justice’s assertion, which is based on evidence from expert planning barristers, that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will weaken environmental protections in law. Our client feels that this, alongside the government’s recent concessions regarding the bill, shows that Angela Rayner’s claim to Parliament about environmental protections in the bill was incorrect. Wild Justice now looks forward to laying out the arguments for their case in the High Court in November.”