Legal challenge launched against HyNet carbon capture development in North West
Campaign group HyNot has filed a legal claim challenging the development of the HyNet carbon capture and storage facility in the North West of England.
Posted on 20 August 2025
In an application for judicial review, HyNot says the Secretary of State for Energy, Security and Net Zero’s and the Oil and Gas Authority’s decisions to grant permission for the HyNet development failed to properly assess the risk of major accidents, as well as the impacts on climate change.
The development proposes to repurpose existing natural gas pipelines and offshore undersea storage in order to transport and store carbon dioxide. The development is set to involve new sections of pipeline also being constructed, as well as the drilling of 13 wells.
The repurposing of the gas pipelines for offshore carbon dioxide storage makes up part of a larger project involving the capture of carbon dioxide from a new blue hydrogen (hydrogen generated from natural gas) plant and heavy industry across the North West.
Plans for the carbon capture pipeline and storage development underwent environmental assessment in 2024, and on 17 March 2025 were given the green light by the Secretary of State. Consent was then granted by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) on 22 April, a decision which HyNot is also challenging in its judicial review.
However, these decisions were only made public on 24 April, and consultees were not specifically notified of the publication.
HyNot argues that carbon storage is a false solution for climate change, and warns that the project could risk locking the UK into continued fossil fuel use.
The group says there are several flaws in the decisions by the Secretary of State and OGA to grant development consent. The grounds of challenge are:
- There was a failure to assess major accidents and disasters, and/or a failure to carry out a lawful public consultation.
- There was a failure to assess the cumulative effects of the whole HyNet project on the climate.
- There was a failure to comply with the requirements of the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001, and the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
HyNot points to requirements under the 2020 Environmental Impact Regulations to assess and consider risks from major accidents and disasters, even if the risk of such an event occurring is low.
However, major accident risks were not reviewed as part of the development’s environmental impact assessment, despite other developments in the broader HyNet project undergoing such assessments.
Under the same Environmental Impact Regulations, HyNot also argues that there was a failure to properly assess the impact of the development on climate change.
The group says that the cumulative impact of the whole project (including the other planned developments) should have been assessed, but that the Secretary of State and OGA failed to assess the hydrogen production elements of the project.
HyNot also argues that the development fails to comply with habitats regulations, which require a developer to rule out any adverse effects on the integrity of sites and habitats.
The group’s complaint is that no lawful reasons were given for departing from the opinion of the independent statutory advisers, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England (NE), that adverse effects could not be ruled out given the likely disturbance to threatened bird species caused by sea vessel movements.
HyNot is seeking to quash the decisions by the Secretary of State and OGA. The group is crowdfunding its campaign.
Nicky Crosby from the HyNot campaign:
“HyNet North West make huge claims to be good for climate, jobs and the local economy. The HyNot group believe that the massive subsidies, from taxpayers and our future energy bills, mean it is only good for the fossil fuel companies involved. We think the project will leave us with risks around safety, a dependence on imported gas, weakened energy security, and a burning planet.”
Leigh Day solicitor Rowan Smith, who represents HyNot, said:
“Our client has raised a number of concerns over whether the environmental assessment of the HyNet carbon capture development was adequate. Environmental regulations clearly lay out the need for thorough assessments of the risk of major incidents, the impact on climate change, and effects on protected species. Given the relatively untested nature of carbon capture and storage, our client believes that there was a heightened need for proper assessment of the potential environmental downsides to the project before consent was granted.”
Rowan Smith
Rowan Smith is a senior associate solicitor in the human rights department.
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