Plans to speed up and reform the Judicial Review system have been announced by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, with a new Planning Court established by this Summer.
The Ministry of Justice writes:
Legal disputes over major developments will be fast-tracked for consideration by a new Planning Court which will be established by this Summer, to support the Government’s long term plan for economic recovery.
The move will see an estimated 400 planning cases a year resolved more quickly by being fast-tracked for hearings with specialist judges, instead of clogging the main Administrative Court. It will support the growing economy by reducing unnecessary and costly legal delays which developers have previously blamed for the collapse of potential major building schemes.
The strong package of reforms to the Judicial Review (JR) system will also include changes to make sure anyone making a JR claim faces a fair level of financial risk – ending the current situation where individuals and campaign groups can cause expensive delays with no cost or risk for themselves.
The changes have been designed to speed up the running of the JR process, while also driving out meritless cases which clog the courts and slow progress for legitimate applications.
Cases often take more than a year to resolve. For planning cases, the average time to resolve an application which went all the way to a final hearing was 370 days in 2011.
The new reforms follow changes to speed up the JR process already implemented by the Government last year, including:
- Halving the time limit for applying for a JR of a planning decision from three months to six weeks.
- Reducing the time limit for applying for a JR of a procurement decision from three months to 30 days.
- Stopping people from having a ‘second chance’ hearing if their initial written application is ruled totally without merit’ by a judge and – where a ‘second chance’ hearing is still allowed – introducing a £215 court fee for it.
IHBC Judicial Review Research Note: LINK
Ministry of Justice press release: LINK
