Using your Skills to Best Effect: Civic Engagement in Action

Hannah Moneagle, Director of the Grampian Community Law Centre, Practising Solicitor and RGU Lecturer, has been writing about her experiences of civic engagement ahead of an event on the topic on Friday 3 March.

In July 2021, I became aware of a campaign launched by members of the community in Buckie, Moray, to save their local woodlands from destruction by a developer who wanted to build seven luxury homes on the site.  

Community members rallied together and formed the ‘Save Slochy Woodlands Campaign Group’ to collectively vocalise their opinion that the woodlands should be left alone.  The group felt very strongly that the woodlands offer a vital greenspace for community recreation, and an essential habitat for the local wildlife during a biodiversity and climate crisis. 

The group arranged protests and marches at the woodlands; arranged a petition which garnered over 6,000 signatures; and gained support from local MSPs including Maggie Chapman and Karen Adam.

As a former Planning Lawyer, I was aware that these methods, whilst useful in raising publicity for the campaign, would not have any legal effect in terms of preventing the grant of planning permission to the developer. 

I tried to explain this to the group but the planning system in Scotland is complex and I quickly realised that they needed support to guide them through the legal process.

From this point, I became the group’s Legal Representative on a pro bono (free of charge) basis. I did this because I shared their concerns that the removal of the woodlands would be detrimental to both humans and wildlife. I’m a passionate environmentalist and found the idea of displacing the many badgers, otters, foxes, deer, pine martens, and more who sought refuge in the woodlands as their home particularly upsetting. 

I used my knowledge and experience to structure the group as a Voluntary Association with a formal Constitution - this proved particularly relevant during later Court proceedings. I also reviewed all the circumstances surrounding the matter and prepared a detailed briefing note which I sent to the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) for their consideration. 

ERCS agreed to become involved on a pro bono basis, along with the Legal Services Agency (LSA), and both organisations proved to be invaluable through the processes that followed. 

Meanwhile, the group garnered support for the campaign from the acclaimed naturalist Chris Packham, the TV personality Dr Amir Khan, and the charity Butterfly Conservation. This assisted in keeping the campaign in the public eye. 

As a member of the Scottish Steering Group and Wildlife Working Group for the UK Centre for Animal Law, I work closely with Advocate Scott Blair as he is also a member of the Scottish Group. I knew that Scott shared my passion for wildlife and asked if he would act on behalf of the group in future court proceedings if required. He agreed to do so on a pro bono basis. 

Despite attempts to reason directly with The Moray Council, following a vote of the Council’s Local Review Body (a group of Councillors), the decision to grant planning permission was reached and, in November 2021, the Decision Notice formally granting the developer with consent to destroy the woodlands was released. 

The strategic release of the Decision Notice meant we had little time to apply to the Court of Session in Edinburgh for a statutory review of the Local Review Body’s decision to grant the planning permission because of the imminent Christmas break. Thanks to Ben Christman at the ERCS and LSA, and Scott, we were able to submit our application within the deadline. 

A member of the Group was identified as eligible for Legal Aid to assist with financing the court action, and Ben assisted the member with an application through his role at the LSA. I was also able to contribute financially towards the court fees through my business which focuses on wildlife conservation. 

Court processes take time, and, through 2022, I assisted Ben and Scott with reviewing formal court documents for accuracy as the application progressed. Finally, as we entered 2023, we received a date for a hearing at the Court of Session. This was to take place on 7 February, 2023. 

Along with the Chair of the campaign group, I travelled to Edinburgh to be with Ben and Scott as Lords Carloway (the Lord President), Pentland, and Woolman heard our case, and the defence of The Moray Council. We then had to wait with bated breath for the formal Court Judgment to be released some weeks later.  We didn’t feel terribly positive at the time as the hearing had been quite stressful. 

On 22 February 2023, we were notified that the Lords found in our favour. We had won! This meant that the decision reached by the Local Review Body to grant planning permission had to be quashed as it was found to be an illegal decision. 

After nearly two years of legal and campaigning efforts, we had finally managed to protect the woodlands from this unwanted development. It felt like a huge relief, but also incredibly emotional. I’m not sure even at the time of writing whether the outcome has fully sunk in.

Every person involved in the legal and campaigning processes in this challenge put their heart and soul into it. The Chair of the group and I spent many hours preparing and revising documents, considering different legal approaches, and discussing how we would finance the challenge. Ben and Scott kept up momentum and ensured that every legal technicality was considered and covered. It was a team effort, but I feel unbelievably proud that I was able to use my legal skills and experience to take this matter forward; an experience I will never forget.

Importantly, the campaign and its outcome will serve to give hope to other community campaigns, and we are now looking at setting up a Community Assembly for Moray to ensure that local voices continue to be heard.    

As students with the most up-to-date knowledge and learning, you can effect change and offer support to your local communities through civic engagement like this. 

There is a famous quote attributed to Rabbi Hillel (a first-century Jewish scholar) which reads: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

There is no better time than now to get involved in civic engagement which will supplement your studies whilst also giving something back to your community. 

If you want to learn more about what civic engagement is and how you can get involved, we are holding a special session on the subject on Friday 3 March 2023 in Room 319 of the Riverside Building on campus. This will be a hybrid session with the ability for students to join us virtually if unable to make it in person. 

Whilst primarily aimed at law students, we are happy to welcome any students with an interest in civic engagement.

Image: Ben Christman, Scott Blair, and RGU's Hannah Moneagle at the Court of Session.