Wild Justice and Badger Trust are mounting a legal challenge against the decision of Natural England (NE) to issue licences for Badger culling, made after pressure from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under the previous government.

NE has asked the Court to increase the normal adverse cost cap (what you pay if you lose the case) from £10,000 to £20,000 for Wild Justice and from £10,000 to £30,000 for Badger Trust. The Aarhus Convention (to which the UK is a party) exists to protect citizens’ access to information, access to decision-making and access to justice. Taking legal challenges supported by the public is clearly in the ‘access to justice’ category. The £10,000 normal Aarhus cap is a quid pro quo – if we, as claimants win, we can claim back far less than we could under a non-Aarhus case.

We believe we have a good chance of success, but nothing is certain and we see NE’s unusual and aggressive move as an attempt to scare off legal challenges. We believe NE will best avoid legal challenges by making sound and legal decisions – if they appear to stray from the straight and narrow then it is in the public interest for their actions to be challenged and for the courts to decide one way or another.