Access to justice in environmental law: An investigation of the locus standi of environmental pressure groups in English law and the creation of an environmental court
type: CreativeWork
description: Pressure Groups, the subject of this work, their selfperception and their access to our Courts is a subject that has, for some time, been of personal interest to me. I had had no personal contact with any pressure group until approximately 10 years ago when, standing at the window of a naval Wardroom in the South of England, I found myself, together with many other naval officers, looking down upon a gathering of about 500 protestors demonstrating against our possession of astrategic nuclear deterrent, most of whom were members either of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament or Greenpeace. Their presence stimulated much discussion, far more I suspect than those standing outside would have imagined might have occurred in the conservative atmosphere of a naval establishment. Their mere presence awakened in a number of my colleagues, misgivings concerning the morality of the nuclear deterrent and the incalculable effects it's use would inevitably have. The discussion went on long after the Police had moved on the protestors. To that extent their mere presence had had some effect. Much of the environmental policy of the European Union and thus of the United Kingdom has been instigated by individuals. The environmental movement is an example of change being instigated from the bottom rather than the top (see Hague Manual of Environmental Policy, Introduction Chapter). I believe that if we are to rely upon the State and regulatory bodies created by the state to protect and police our environment and to invest only those authorities with the power to do so, we place ourselves, to a dangerous extent, at the mercy of political forces within the framework of a present constitution where the attainment and preservation of power is paramount and where, perhaps, only an environmental catastrophy could provide the necessary impetus for constitutional change necessary to effect change within our present institutions. In Chapter 1 this work will examine the nature and constitutional…
abstract: Pressure Groups, the subject of this work, their selfperception and their access to our Courts is a subject that has, for some time, been of personal interest to me. I had had no personal contact with any pressure group until approximately 10 years ago when, standing at the window of a naval Wardroom in the South of England, I found myself, together with many other naval officers, looking down upon a gathering of about 500 protestors demonstrating against our possession of astrategic nuclear deterrent, most of whom were members either of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament or Greenpeace. Their presence stimulated much discussion, far more I suspect than those standing outside would have imagined might have occurred in the conservative atmosphere of a naval establishment. Their mere presence awakened in a number of my colleagues, misgivings concerning the morality of the nuclear deterrent and the incalculable effects it's use would inevitably have. The discussion went on long after the Police had moved on the protestors. To that extent their mere presence had had some effect. Much of the environmental policy of the European Union and thus of the United Kingdom has been instigated by individuals. The environmental movement is an example of change being instigated from the bottom rather than the top (see Hague Manual of Environmental Policy, Introduction Chapter). I believe that if we are to rely upon the State and regulatory bodies created by the state to protect and police our environment and to invest only those authorities with the power to do so, we place ourselves, to a dangerous extent, at the mercy of political forces within the framework of a present constitution where the attainment and preservation of power is paramount and where, perhaps, only an environmental catastrophy could provide the necessary impetus for constitutional change necessary to effect change within our present institutions. In Chapter 1 this work will examine the nature and constitutional…
author: Parsonage, Neil D.
language: en
keywords: M111 - English law
date published: 1995
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:36:13Z
provider: University of Central Lancashire
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Central Lancashire