Protest group Together Against Sizewell C launched a bid to challenge development consent granted for the multi-billion-pound project in Suffolk by then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng in July 2022.
At a hearing in March this year, lawyers for the group of local residents argued the government failed to assess possible environmental impacts, including that of providing an “essential” water supply to the project.
They also said the government did not consider “alternative solutions” to meeting its energy and climate change objectives.
The government, ostensibly supporting the project with a £700m stake, argued it made “legitimate planning judgments” and that the campaigners’ bid was “unarguable”.
In a 47-page ruling on Thursday (22 June), Mr Justice Holgate dismissed the opposition group's legal challenge, adding that several parts of it were “totally without merit”.
The judge said there was “nothing artificial or unlawfully limiting” about a policy...