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R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex parte Greenpeace Ltd (No 2)

Here the environmental pressure group, Greenpeace, was held to have standing to challenge a variation of a nuclear processing licence for the reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria. In arriving at the conclusion, Otton J took into account the national and international standing of Greenpeace; its genuine concern for the environment; and the fact that it had 2,500 supporters in Cumbria. Without Greepeace's involvement, he thought that those people it represented might not have had an effective way to bring the disputed issues to court. It would have required an application by an employee of BNFL, or someone living very close to Sellafield, who might well not have had the same degree of expertise as Greenpeace, resulting in a far less well-informed challenge. Standing was therefore accepted.