From 1 July 2013 all planning cases must be started within 6 weeks from the date of the decision. One of the most important requirements is that the application for permission for JR has to be made within the time limits set by the Court rules. Overall, the adage "no smoke without fire" applies in the field of JR/public law. The instinct of residents who feel they have been treated unfairly is often right. It may well mean that in practice the decision cannot lawfully be taken again with the same results. We find that where there is a legal problem with a decision, there is often a substantive one too. In practice, however, the effect of a decision being quashed and a new decision being taken, often following a proper procedure (such as having environmental impact assessment (EIA) or factors properly taken into account), means that at least a better, and often a substantively different, decision results. If that were always the case, there would be no point in the procedure (or in us being in business). This can result in exactly the same decision being taken - so victories in JR can be pyrrhic. In planning cases, this means that the application will be reconsidered having rectified any defects found eg. In turn this usually means that the decision has to be taken again. If a JR claim is successful the usual result is that the decision is "quashed" or nullified. The crucial practical point to remember in those cases is that you have a fixed six week time limit in which to issue court proceedings. Note - there is a very similar procedure known as "statutory appeal" which applies to certain types of decision, particularly planning decisions made by the Secretary of State or Planning Inspectorate on the Secretary of State's behalf.
It is important to understand that a JR is not a re-run on the merits of the decision but a challenge to the lawfulness of the decision that was made. The court has a "supervisory" role - making sure the decision maker acts lawfully. Judicial review (JR) is the process of challenging the lawfulness of decisions of public authorities, usually local or central government.
0 kommentar(er)
