Clean energy firm used ‘broad’ notice for land access bid, High Court rules

Jess Glass, Press Association Law Editor

A green energy company planning new electricity pylons in Wales used an “unduly broad” notice when trying to gain entry to farmer’s land, a High Court judge has said.

Natalie Barstow, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales and the Land Justice Coalition took legal action against Green Generation Energy Networks (Green GEN) Cymru over how the firm carried out its proposed project.

At a hearing in April, lawyers for the campaigners said the company did not give proper notice when visiting land and failing to take adequate steps to prevent the spread of disease, which the campaigners said is a risk to protected species and people’s livelihoods.

Green GEN Cymru defended the legal claim, which related to a network of electric cables being built across Wales on pylons and underground.

In a judgment on Monday, Mr Justice Kimblin found that Green GEN Cymru had given notice to Ms Barstow, but that it was “unduly broad and lacking in particularity”.

He continued: “It was a pro-forma notice which failed to either have regard to the circumstances which were relevant to the land or to the owners and the occupiers.”

The judge also said that no action was taken under that notice “other than a minor and inadvertent entry” onto her land in July 2025.

Mr Justice Kimblin added that there was no error on Green GEN’s part under environmental law when considering biosecurity concerns, though there had been a “failure to grapple with the risks of transmission” of bovine tuberculosis.

He also found that each landowner or occupier has to be given notice, and developers cannot rely on notices months or years after they were given to access land, adding: “It is taking all of the benefit of the access and taking none of the burden of properly thinking about what is reasonable in the circumstances.”

Mary Smith, a lawyer at New South Law, which acts on behalf of over 500 local farmers, businesses, and landowners, described the judgment as “a powerful moment for hundreds of local people”.

She continued: “Your home is your sanctuary. That sanctuary has been disrupted over and over again by an energy company… It should not have taken a High Court case brought by a community group and charity on behalf of hundreds of landowners and occupiers to make sure developers comply with the law.

“Adequate regulation should be in place to govern energy company behaviour and to protect the public.”