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Court cases make clear the necessity of evaluating alternative options for sites

- In Heard v Broadland District Council and Ors. EWHC (Admin) [2012] the claimant, who opposed urbanisation generally, challenged the adoption by the defendants of their Joint Core Strategy (JCS). The challenge centred around the adequacy of a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) undertaken in relation to the JCS and alleged that there had been a procedural failing in relation to the consideration of alternatives.

Court of Appeal rules on opencast coal extension

- In R. (on the application of Celtic Energy Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [October 2011] a mining company appealed against a judgement refusing to quash a decision of the Welsh ministers to uphold refusal of permission for an extension to an opencast coal site.