The European Commiission is taking legal action against the United Kingdon for not fully complying with European Court of Justice judgments in two separate cases.
In the first case the Commission is sending a second written warning for failure to comply with an ECJ ruling asking it to amend its law on environmental impact assessments. In the second case the Commission is sending a first written warning because the UK has not completely complied with an ECJ judgement on the treatment of urban waste water in seven towns.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "European environmental legislation is designed to protect the environment and health of EU citizens. Member States have an obligation to provide citizens in urban and rural areas with the highest level of environmental and health protection. I urge the UK authorities to swiftly abide by the Court decisions on the proper assessment of development projects' impact on the environment and on the treatment of polluted wastewater in certain towns in the United Kingdom."
The Commission is sending the United Kingdom a second written warning for failing to comply with a May 2006 ruling by the European Court of Justice on the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. Under the directive Member States are obliged to carry out environmental impact assessments before certain types of public and private projects believed to have a significant impact on the environment are authorised. The Court concluded that the UK law on impact assessment was contrary to certain requirements of the EU directive. Following the ruling the United Kingdom indicated it would be drafting new legislation amending the law on environmental impact assessments. To date the Commission has not been notified of any such new legislation having being adopted.
The Commission is also sending the United Kingdom a first written warning for failure to fully abide by a January 2007 ECJ ruling on the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Under the directive Member States must ensure that towns with a population of 15,000 or above have treatment facilities that remove excessive levels of nutrients from wastewater originating from such urban areas. The Court found that 13 UK towns did not meet this obligation.
In April 2007 the United Kingdom informed the Commission that six of these towns now have wastewater treatment facilities in place. However, there are still seven remaining towns (Bangor, Brighton, Broadstairs, Corelaine, Donaghadee, Margate and Portrush) that do not have adequate wastewater treatment facilities. The Commission is sending the United Kingdom a first written warning asking these seven towns to be provided with appropriate treatment facilities as soon as possible. The Commission is also asking that the treatment facilities in the six other towns be verified for their full compliance with the directive.
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