A judge has rejected a landmark legal challenge by housebuilder CG Fry over the nutrient neutrality crisis, ruling that planners were right to refuse to permit a 650-home application on the Somerset levels without an environmental assessment.

In a key High Court decision, judge Sir Ross Cranston ruled that the provisions of the Habitats Regulations did apply to developments such as the one at issue, where the problem of nutrient pollution was only raised after outline permission had already been granted, and while the housebuilder was attempting to discharge planning conditions.

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