Pressure is growing to renegotiate or leave an international convention blamed for slowing building projects and increasing costs after a judge warned campaigners they are in danger of “the misuse of judicial review”.

Under the Aarhus Convention, campaigners who challenge projects on environmental grounds but then lose in court against housing and big infrastructure have their costs above £10,000 capped and the rest met by the taxpayer.

Government figures say this situation is “mad” but ministers have not acted, despite promising to do so for months.

The Tories are today leading the call for change with a demand to reform or leave the convention.

In March, Sky News revealed how a computer scientist from Norfolk had challenged a carbon capture and storage project attached to a gas-fired power station on multiple occasions.

Andrew Boswell took his challenge all the way the appeal court, causing delays of months at a cost of over £100m to the developers.

In May, the verdict handed down by the Court of Appeal was scathing about Dr Boswell’s case.

“Dr Boswell’s approach is, we think, a classic example of the misuse of judicial review in order to continue a campaign against a development… once a party has lost the argument on the planning merits,” wrote the judges.

They added: “Such an approach is inimical to the scheme enacted by parliament for the taking of decisions in the public interest,” adding his case “betrays a serious misunderstanding of the decision of the Supreme Court” and “the appeal must therefore be rejected”.

Another case – against a housing development in a series of fields in Cranbrook, Kent – was thrown out by judges in recent weeks.

The case was brought by CPRE Kent, the countryside challenge, to preserve a set of fields between two housing developments alongside an area of outstanding natural beauty.

John Wotton, from CPRE Kent, suggested it would have been hard to bring the challenge without the costs being capped.

“We would’ve had to think very carefully about whether we could impose that financial risk on the charity,” he told Sky News.

After his case was dismissed, Berkeley Homes said the situation was “clearly absurd and highlights how incredibly slow and uncertain our regulatory system has become”.

They added: “We welcome the government’s commitment to tackle the blockages which stop businesses from investing and frustrate the delivery of much needed homes, jobs and growth.

“We need to make the current system work properly so that homes can actually get built instead of being tied-up in bureaucracy by any individual or organisation who wants to stop them against the will of the government.”

‘Reform could breach international law’

Around 80 cases a year are brought under the Aarhus Convention, Sky News has learned.

The way Britain interprets Aarhus is unique as a result of the UK’s distinctive legal system and the loser pays principle.

Barrister Nick Grant, a planning and environment expert who has represented government and campaigns, said the convention means more legally adventurous claims.

“What you might end up doing is bringing a claim on more adventurous grounds, additional grounds, running points – feeling comfortable running points – that you might not have otherwise run.

“So it’s both people bringing claims, but also how they bring the claims, and what points they run. This cap facilitates it basically.”

However, Mr Grant said that it would be difficult to reform: “Fundamentally, the convention is doing what it was designed to do, which is to facilitate access to justice.

“And it then becomes a question for the policymakers as to what effect is this having and do we want to maintain that? It will be difficult for us to reform it internally without being in breach of our international law obligations”

In March, Sky News was told Number 10 is actively looking at the convention.

Multiple figures in government have said the situation with Britain’s participation in the Aarhus Convention is “mad” but Sky News understands nothing of significance is coming on this subject.

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The Tories, however, want action.

Robert Jenrick, shadow justice secretary and former housing minister, said the Tories would reform or leave the convention.

He told Sky News: “I think the country faces a choice. Do we want to get the economy firing on all cylinders or not?

“We’ve got to reform the planning system and we’ve got to ensure that judicial review… is not used to gum up the system and this convention is clearly one of the issues that has to be addressed.

“We either reform it, if that’s possible. I’m very sceptical because accords like this are very challenging and it takes many many years to reform them.

“If that isn’t possible, then we absolutely should think about leaving because what we’ve got to do is put the interest of the British public first.”

Mr Jenrick also attacked the lawyers who work on Aarhus cases on behalf of clients.

“A cottage industry has grown. In fact, it’s bigger than a cottage industry,” he said.

“There are activist lawyers with campaign groups who are now, frankly, profiteering from this convention. And it is costing the British taxpayer a vast amount of money. These lawyers are getting richer. The country is getting poorer.”

A Colombian man has been found guilty of two murders after taking his victims’ bodies in suitcases to Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge last year.

Yostin Mosquera was convicted of the murders of Paul Longworth and Albert Alfonso, who were killed in London on 8 July 2024.

Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of murders.

Mosquera’s victims were 62-year-old Albert Alfonso and his civil partner, 71-year-old Paul Longworth. It is believed that Mosquera, a 35-year-old who worked in the adult film industry, first met Mr Alfonso online.

The three men struck up a friendship, the couple visited Mosquera in Colombia, and they repeatedly flew Mosquera to the UK to stay with them at their flat in London.

While the men would take day-trips to tourist attractions, like Madame Tussauds, Mr Alfonso and Mosquera would engage in extreme sex together.

But in the weeks leading up to their murders, Mosquera was clearly planning his attacks.

He looked online for a freezer and, on the day of the killings, searched for: “Where on the head is a knock fatal?”

The prosecution argued he was financially motivated.

Mosquera repeatedly tried to find the price of the couple’s property in Scotts Road, Shepherd’s Bush, and stole money from Mr Alfonso after murdering him.

On 8 July 2024, Mosquera killed Mr Longworth by hitting him with a hammer, shattering his skull, before hiding his body in a divan bed.

That evening, during sex with Mr Alfonso, Mosquera stabbed him with a knife. A postmortem revealed 22 stab wounds.

All of this was recorded on cameras, which had been placed in the room by Mr Alfonso.

Mosquera then decapitated the bodies, the heads stored in a freezer which he had delivered on 9 July.

The other remains were put in suitcases and on 10 July, Mosquera hired a van with a driver to transport him and the bags to Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The prosecution argued Mosquera went to Bristol with the intention of throwing the bags off the bridge.

But, struggling with their weight, Mosquera caught the attention of passers-by, telling them the cases contained car parts.

But people noticed liquid leaking from the bags – blood.

Mosquera ran off and was later arrested at Bristol Temple Meads station on 13 July 2024 and charged with both murders.

When the case came to trial, initially at the Old Bailey and then at Woolwich Crown Court, the gruesome footage of Mr Alfonso’s murder was repeatedly played to the jury.

Miranda Jollie, Senior Crown Prosecutor at the CPS, said she found the video “horrific”, but maintained that it was necessary to show the video because of Mosquera’s claims.

Mosquera denied the murders, but admitted killing Mr Alfonso – his defence team argued it was manslaughter by loss of control.

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However, the video evidence contradicts this claim.

It shows Mosquera had hidden the knife before sex, showing the attack was premeditated.

He was also calm as he attacked Mr Alfonso, who was taken off guard, and went to Mr Alfonso’s computer to try and steal from him as he lay dying.

In court, Mosquera argued, through a Spanish interpreter, that Mr Alfonso had repeatedly “raped him” and that Mr Longworth had been killed by Mr Alfonso.

But the prosecution argued there was no evidence to support these claims, while the couple’s relationship was unconventional, it was also “loving”, and Mr Alfonso would never have killed Mr Longworth.

The system for regulating water companies in England and Wales should be overhauled and replaced with one single body, a major review of the sector has advised.

It has recommended abolishing regulator Ofwat as well as the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which ensures that public water supplies are safe.

The report, which includes 88 recommendations, suggests a new single integrated regulator to replace existing water watchdogs, mandatory water metering, and a social tariff for vulnerable customers.

The ability to block companies being taken over and the creation of eight new regional water authorities with another for all of Wales to deliver local priorities, has also been suggested.

The review, the largest into the water industry since privatisation in the 1980s, was undertaken by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a career civil servant who oversaw the biggest clean-up of Britain’s banking system in the wake of the financial crash.

He was coaxed out of retirement by Environment Secretary Steve Reed to lead the Independent Water Commission.

Here are nine key recommendations:

• Single integrated water regulators – a single water regulator in England and a single water regulator in Wales. In England, this would replace Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and water-environment related functions from the Environment Agency and Natural England

• Eight new regional water system planning authorities in England and one national authority in Wales

• Greater consumer protection – this includes upgrading the consumer body Consumer Council for Water into an Ombudsman for Water to give stronger protection to customers and a clearer route to resolving complaints

• Stronger environmental regulation, including compulsory water meters

• Tighter oversight of water company ownership and governance, including new powers for the regulator to block changes in water company ownership

• Public health reforms – this aims to better manage public health risks in water, recognising the many people who swim, surf and enjoy other water-based activities

• Fundamental reset of economic regulation – including changes to ensure companies are investing in and maintaining assets

• Clear strategic direction – a new long-term National Water Strategy should be published by both the UK and Welsh governments with a “minimum horizon of 25 years”

• Infrastructure and asset health reforms – including new requirements for companies to map and assess their assets and new resilience standards

In a speech responding to Sir Jon’s report, Mr Reed is set to describe the water industry as “broken” and welcome the commission’s recommendations to ensure “the failures of the past can never happen again”.

Final recommendations of the commission have been published on Monday morning to clean up the sector and improve public confidence.

Major other suggested steps for the government include greater consumer protection by upgrading the Consumer Council for Water into an ombudsman with advocacy duties being transferred to Citizens Advice.

Stronger and updated regulations have been proposed by Sir Jon, including compulsory water metering, changes to wholesale tariffs for industrial users and greater water reuse and rainwater harvesting schemes. A social tariff is also recommended.

Oversight of companies via the ability to block changes in ownership of water businesses and the addition of “public benefit” clauses in water company licences.

To boost company financial resilience, as the UK’s biggest provider Thames Water struggles to remain in private ownership, the commission has recommended minimum financial requirements, like banks are subject to.

It’s hoped this will, in turn, make companies more appealing to potential investors.

The public health element of water has been recognised, and senior public health representation has been recommended for regional water planning authorities, as have new laws to address pollutants like forever chemicals and microplastics.

A “supervisory” approach has been recommended to intervene before things like pollution occur, rather than penalising the businesses after the event.

A long-term, 25-year national water strategy should be published by the UK and Welsh governments, with ministerial priorities given to water firms every five years.

Companies should also be required to map and assess their assets and resilience

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