Court decision is overturned on appeal

Lord Carloway found colleague Lord Stewart was wrong to allow a legal challenge stopping the developments.

Last July, Lord Stewart agreed with the arguments made by RSPB Scotland’s legal team and ruled Scottish Ministers had breached legal requirements to give consideration to the areas being a haven for rare wildlife.

Lord Stewart also ruled the Government had failed to properly consult interested parties over the environmental impact of the developments and further found ministers had taken into account “unconsulted information”.

However, Lord Carloway – who was sitting with fellow judges Lord Menzies, and Lord Brodie – found his colleague had interpreted the law incorrectly.

They ruled the Government acted properly and gave due consideration to the areas being a home for rare wildlife.

The judge also ruled that the Scottish Ministers acted appropriately and properly consulted interested parties.

In his judgement, Lord Carloway wrote: “Despite paying lip service to the correct legal test for judicial review, the Lord Ordinary has strayed well beyond the limits of testing the legality of the process and has turned himself into the decision maker following what appears to have been treated as an appeal against the respondents decision on the facts.”