Kent Wildlife Trust is exploring a judicial review of the Sea Link consent at Pegwell Bay and lists the safeguards it won. Updated 11 November 2026.

Kent Wildlife Trust, the county’s largest conservation charity, says it is exploring whether there are grounds for a judicial review of National Grid’s Sea Link power project, which the Secretary of State granted development consent on 30 October 2026.

Sea Link comes ashore at Pegwell Bay, near Sandwich, about 50 miles east of Tunbridge Wells. The trust, which has more than 31,000 members across Kent and manages more than 9,000 acres on 85 nature reserves and sites, has campaigned against the landfall there for four years under the name Rethink Sea Link.

It says it has always accepted that the electricity network needs upgrading and the energy sector decarbonising. Its argument was that other locations, which would not damage internationally important habitats, deserved more consideration. “The climate and biodiversity crises are two sides of the same coin,” the trust says, and a sustainable energy future “must not come at the expense of the natural world”.

Why the decision went the way it did

The Secretary of State accepted the Examining Authority’s recommendation that the strategic need for the electricity infrastructure outweighed the environmental harm it had identified.

The decision concluded that the project would not adversely affect the integrity of protected sites. The trust’s point is that this rests on mitigation being delivered properly. “Consent does not mean there will be no harm to wildlife or habitats,” it said.

Its main objection now is timing. The trust says the project was approved before important ecological surveys had been completed and before key mitigation had been fully designed or agreed, so consent was granted “without a complete understanding of the potential impacts on wildlife”.

Emma Waller, Senior Planning and Policy Officer at Kent Wildlife Trust, said:

“While this is an incredibly disappointing outcome, I am proud of what we have achieved through four years of challenging these proposals. We have secured important changes and safeguards and ensured that the environmental risks to this internationally important landscape could not be ignored. But we have also seen first-hand the lasting damage that can result when environmental impacts are underestimated and promises of restoration fall short. The damage left behind by Nemo Link must not be repeated, and we will not allow the lessons from that project to be ignored.”

A judicial review is on the table

On a legal challenge, Ms Waller said:

“We are also carefully exploring all available options following the decision, including whether there may be grounds for a judicial review. This is being considered thoroughly with the campaign groups, and no options are being ruled out at this stage. We remain committed to challenging the decision wherever there are legitimate grounds to do so and will provide further updates as our position develops.”

Aerial view of the River Stour winding through saltmarsh and grazing land to the sea at Pegwell and Sandwich Bay
The Stour estuary at Pegwell and Sandwich Bay. Photo: supplied by Kent Wildlife Trust

The safeguards the trust says it secured

According to the trust, the consent includes:

  • No open trench across the saltmarsh. National Grid cannot revert to open-cut trenching at Pegwell Bay. Only horizontal directional drilling or Direct Pipe is permitted at the landfall, which the trust calls significant given the lasting damage left by the earlier Nemo Link works.
  • A say in the detailed design. The trust will be consulted on the landfall’s design, including access routes and the saltmarsh surveys before construction.
  • A new route at sea. The cable route was redesigned to avoid the Goodwin Sands Marine Conservation Zone. The trust also pushed for better study of the effect on marine mammals and more detailed baseline assessments.
  • The Hoverport for emergencies only. It is no longer a construction compound, and the trust must be told within 24 hours of any emergency deployment.
  • Birds. Seasonal limits on some noisy construction work, bird diverters on new overhead lines and bird monitoring.
  • Other wildlife. Further surveys and mitigation for beavers, water voles and hazel dormice.
  • Noise. Stronger arrangements for investigating complaints about operational noise, with action required if monitoring shows permitted levels are exceeded.

What still worries it

The trust names three outstanding concerns: the loss of habitat used by wintering birds, whether the proposed golden plover compensation site is suitable, and bird collision monitoring secured for only two years, where it asked for at least five.

The Secretary of State also did not accept National Grid’s Biodiversity Net Gain plans as a sufficiently detailed or enforceable benefit. National Grid’s commitment to 10% net gain is voluntary and not a legal requirement for Sea Link.

From here the trust says it will scrutinise the detailed design and pre-construction surveys, challenge mitigation and compensation it thinks inadequate, press for long-term bird monitoring, check National Grid’s compliance with its commitments and watch construction methods at Pegwell Bay.

Ms Waller said:

“Whatever happens next, our work is far from over. We will scrutinise every stage of Sea Link’s delivery, challenge inadequate protections and hold both National Grid and the relevant regulators to account. Environmental commitments must be more than promises on paper, and where damage occurs, it must not be overlooked or brushed aside. We may not have secured the decision we wanted, but we are determined to use every opportunity available to protect this special place and ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.”

Campaigners on Minster Marshes

The trust credits a wider effort, including the RSPB, CPRE Kent, Save Minster Marshes and Suffolk Energy Action Solutions. A spokesperson for Save Minster Marshes said:

“After more than four years of fighting against National Grid’s Sea Link project, Save Minster Marshes is devastated that it has been approved by the Secretary of State. The project has been criticised on the strongest environmental, economic and social grounds by over 6,000 respondents, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Kent Wildlife Trust, Natural England and the RSPB but it’s still been given the go ahead.

“Save Minster Marshes are now working together with Kent Wildlife Trust, SEAS (our counterparts in Suffolk) and our legal teams to review the Secretary of State’s Sea Link decision. We are hugely grateful for the support and encouragement from our members and the wider community. We have the resolve and are determined to hold National Grid to account.”

More on the campaign is on Kent Wildlife Trust’s Rethink Sea Link page.