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Frack Free Balcombe Residents Association v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - judgment

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This public law challenge concerns the grant of planning permission for exploration and assessment of hydrocarbons at a site in Balcombe, West Sussex. The decision was made by a planning inspector on behalf of the Secretary of State. The claimant is a residents association opposed to the proposed development.

In October 2023, the High Court gave judgment, dismissing the claim.

There had been no breach of the EIA regulations. First, there had been no failure to consider the ‘project’ as a whole when screening the proposal out of the EIA regime. The scheme was a single, clearly defined project limited to exploration and associated monitoring. It did not include any subsequent commercial production. Second, whilst GHG emissions were not expressly considered in the screening opinion, that was not an error of law. Whilst there would be a flare, it would have been obvious that this flare would emit GHG emissions. Further, this was a small-scale development, and the evidence overwhelmingly indicated that that GHG emissions were not a significant likely effect. (Paragraphs 41 to 61.)

The claimant also argued that the inspector should have considered the assessed and quantified level of GHG which would be emitted and he failed to do so.  However there is no requirement, whether in statute or case law, that every planning decision has to expressly refer to or quantify the GHG emissions that will result. Climate change is likely to be a material consideration in every planning decision given the policy context as well as the much wider issues, but that does not mean that every decision has to have reference to specific figures or assessment. Each case will depend on its own factual and policy context. Here the reference the inspector made to climate change was adequate in the context of this case. (Paragraphs 62 to 65.)

On October 31, 2023, the claimant applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the High Court’s ruling. In April 2025, the Court of Appeal rejected the claimants appeals. First, the court decided that the inspector correctly limited the scope of the assessment to exploration and appraisal phases. Second, the court found that the inspector did sufficiently consider alternative sites. Third, the court determined that the inspector's assessment of water pollution was not flawed.  

Frack Free Balcombe Residents Association v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Climate change can have a range of impacts on technological system. Extreme weather events can cause infrastructure failures like power outages or damage to roads and bridges, as well as the impacts from waste following natural disasters. Human activities also cause technological impacts, such as the risks posed by oil spillage and leaks.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

The activities of industries involved in the production, distribution, and sale of energy, including electricity, gas, and renewables.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

Geohazards are adverse geological phenomenon's that are capable of causing widespread damage or loss to property, life and the environment, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and tsunamis. Climate change can increase the frequency and severity of some geohazards, such as landslides, and soil erosion.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Frack Free Balcombe Residents Association v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - judgment

Policy instrument

Risk

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance