Judicial Review Built Environment
The Built Environment Team works extensively with private and state body developers to both mitigate the risk and navigate judicial review proceedings in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Recently, action has been taken by the Courts and the Government to try and alleviate ongoing delays and speed up the time in which it takes planning and environmental judicial review proceedings to go through the Courts.
The launch of a new Planning and Environment Division of the High Court took place on the 11 of December 2023. The purpose of this new Division and the associated procedures, rules and dedicated judges is to provide a specialised mechanism to process cases more efficiently and provide comprehensive and consistent rulings within the planning and environment field in compliance with EU law.
In addition, the Planning and Development Bill 2023 also includes interventions such as eliminating the right of appeal to the Court of Appeal. In addition, the Bill introduces stricter requirements in order to be eligible to bring a judicial review case and the requirement to seek leave to apply for judicial review has also been removed. This bill is due to be enacted in 2024.
