A decree and a circular setting out the general conditions for the issue of planning permission for the installation and operation of wind turbines must themselves be subject to a prior environmental assessment, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in a judgment handed down on Thursday 25 June (Case C-24/19).
The Court had to rule on the interpretation of the EU Directive on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (2001/42/EC), following a dispute in Belgium.
The case involved a group of residents living on a site in the Flemish municipalities of Aalter and Nevele against the regional planning officer of the Department of Town and Country Planning of Flanders.
The local residents considered that the issue by that authority of a planning permission for the installation and operation of five wind turbines constituted a breach of Directive 2001/42, on the ground that the Flemish Government decree and the circular laying down the provisions to be complied with in order to issue the permit had not been the subject of an environmental assessment.
The authority issuing the permission in question considered, on the contrary, that the order and circular in question should not be subject to such an assessment.
In its ruling on Thursday, the CJEU first recalled that, according to Directive 2001/42, a particular plan or programme must be subject to an environmental assessment if it is likely to have significant effects on the environment.
It then considered that the order and circular in question do indeed fall within the notion of "plans and programmes required by legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions".
Finally, since both the order and the circular contain different provisions relating to the installation and operation of wind turbines, including measures relating to shade projection, safety and noise standards, the Court ruled that these acts were indeed covered by the obligation to undergo an environmental assessment, thereby vindicating the local residents.
See the judgment: https://bit.ly/2B8BUzL (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)