Europa (Order) APPLICATION for interim measures to suspend temporarily the construction work being carried out under a coastal protection project in the area of the Leybucht, pursuant to a decision of 25 September 1985 granting planning permission, in a protection area covered by Article 4(1 ) of Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the conservation of wild birds
Although the Member States do have a certain discretion with regard to the choice of the territories which are most suitable for classification as special protection areas pursuant to Article 4(4) of Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds, they do not have the same discretion to modify or reduce the extent of such areas, which contain the most suitable environments for the species listed in Annex I, and thus unilaterally escape from the obligations imposed on them by Article 4(4) of the directive.
The power of the member States to reduce the extent of special protection areas can be justified only on exceptional grounds corresponding to a general interest which is superior to the general interest represented by the ecological objective of the directive. In that context the economic and recreational requirements referred to in Article 2 of the directive do not enter into consideration, since that provision does not constitute an autonomous derogation from the system of protection established by the directive
Citations:
C-57/89, [1991] ECR I-883, [1991] EUECJ C-57/89
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Cited – Bown v Secretary of State for Transport CA 31-Jul-2003
The appeal concerned the environmental effect of the erection of a bridge being part of a bypass. It was claimed that the area should have been designated as a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA), and that if so it should be treated as such for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Environment
Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.160219
