A former Stormont minister’s decision to approve a major gas storage development off the Co Antrim coast is to be quashed, the Court of Appeal has ordered.
Senior judges previously ruled that Edwin Poots acted irrationally in giving the go-ahead for plans to construct caverns under Larne Lough without referring the project to the Executive Committee.
But Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan confirmed his decision will now be legally invalid and the development proposals sent back for reconsideration by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Jubilant campaigners declared the outcome a complete vindication for their opposition to the scheme.
James Orr, director of Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland, said outside court: “This is a seismic day for decision making on the environment and our climate here.”
In 2021 Mr Poots gave consent for the scheme by Islandmagee Energy Ltd.
Plans involved carving seven large underground caverns at a depth 1,350m below sea level by a process known as solution mining.
Located within special protection and conservation areas, the project was expected to last for 40 years. The units would then be decommissioned at the end of their lifespan.
Local campaign group No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland mounted legal action in a bid to have the marine licence permit quashed.
They claimed it would keep Northern Ireland tied to fossil fuel dependency for decades beyond a target set to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The excavation process would also allegedly lead to hypersaline salt and chemical solution being discharged into the sea near Islandmagee, creating a “dead zone” threat to marine life.
It was contended that Mr Poots failed to properly consider the environmental implications of a development proposal so significant, strategic, cross-cutting and controversial that he was legally required under the Ministerial Code to refer it to the Executive Committee before granting permission.
In August last year their initial application for a judicial review was dismissed at the High Court.
A judge backed the department’s case that amendments in the Executive Committee (Functions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2020 provided more scope for Mr Poots to give the go-ahead without seeking consent from the wider power-sharing cabinet.
Challenging that determination, the campaigners argued there was a statutory requirement to comply with the Ministerial Code and refer such a contentious planning decision to the Executive.
Earlier this month the Court of Appeal ruled that the gas caverns were so significant and controversial that Mr Poots was under a legal duty to bring the issue to the attention of the power-sharing administration.
Identifying a breach of the Ministerial Code, Dame Siobhan highlighted the scheme’s potential impact of locking Northern Ireland into fossil fuel dependency for the next 40 years.
She said there were implications for the net-zero climate policy, and that it was irrational not to consider the development as significantly controversial or cross-cutting to trigger the requirement for Executive referral.
A further hearing today to determine what happens next for the project, the court was told agreement had been reached that ministerial approval of the marine construction licence, discharge of effluent consent and water abstraction licence for the gas caverns should all be quashed.
“We will make the order as drafted,” Dame Siobhan confirmed.
The Department or Islandmagee Energy could still seek an appeal of the judgment at the Supreme Court in London.
But Mr Orr insisted that an unlawful process of approval had been identified.
He added: “This is a huge vindication for the strength of community resistance to protect the sea and landscape around Larne Lough.”