Case C-41/24, Waltham Abbey Residents Association: Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 6 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court – Ireland) – Waltham Abbey Residents Association v An Bord Pleanála, Ireland, The Attorney General (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Environment – Directive 2011/92/EU – Assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment – Article 2(1) and Article 4(2) – Projects covered by Annex II – Urban development projects – Article 4(4) and (5) – Obligations of the developer and the competent authority when the Member State concerned decides to require the determination provided for in those paragraphs 4 and 5 for those projects – Account taken of observations submitted by a third party, indicating a potential impact of the project concerned on an animal species covered by the strict protection provided for in Article 12 of Directive 92/43/EEC)
Date: 2025-03-06
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: development plan, environmental impact, investment project, property development, protected area, protected species, protection of animals, urbanisation








C_202502347EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2347


28.4.2025






Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 6 March 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court – Ireland) – Waltham Abbey Residents Association v An Bord Pleanála, Ireland, The Attorney General


(Case C-41/24,
                (1)
Waltham Abbey Residents Association)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Environment - Directive 2011/92/EU - Assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment - Article 2(1) and Article 4(2) - Projects covered by Annex II - Urban development projects - Article 4(4) and (5) - Obligations of the developer and the competent authority when the Member State concerned decides to require the determination provided for in those paragraphs 4 and 5 for those projects - Account taken of observations submitted by a third party, indicating a potential impact of the project concerned on an animal species covered by the strict protection provided for in Article 12 of Directive 92/43/EEC)
(C/2025/2347)
Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court (Ireland)

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Waltham Abbey Residents Association

Respondents: An Bord Pleanála, Ireland, The Attorney General

Notice party: O’Flynn Construction Co. Unlimited Company

Operative part of the judgment

Article 4(4) to (6) of Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014,
must be interpreted as meaning that where, in the context of a screening procedure carried out under that provision, a third party has provided the competent authority with objective evidence as regards the potential significant effects of that project on the environment, in particular on a species protected under Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, as amended by Council Directive 2013/17/EU of 13 May 2013, that authority must ask the developer to provide it with additional information and take that information into account before deciding whether or not an environmental impact assessment is necessary for that project. However, where, despite the observations submitted to that authority by a third party, the competent authority is able to rule out, on the basis of objective evidence, the possibility that the project in question is likely to have significant effects on the environment, that authority may decide that an environmental impact assessment is not necessary, without being required to ask the developer to provide it with additional information.


(1)  OJ C C/2024/2289.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2347/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)