Cheshire County Council v Secretary of State for the Environment: 1988

The court was asked as to the authority of an assistant solicitor to issue an enforcement notice when the standing orders which dealt with delegated powers referred in this context, but not in others, to the County Solicitor and Secretary alone. The Secretary of State for the Environment had allowed an appeal against the enforcement notice on the basis that where a delegation had taken place to a named officer, a subordinate to whom no delegation had been made had no power to exercise the relevant discretion.
Held: The Secretary of States’s distinguishment of the Provident Mutual Life case was wrong. That decision was of general application and not just restricted to rating cases.

Judges:

Schiemann J

Citations:

[1988] JPL 30

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

ExplainedProvident Mutual Life Assurance Association v Derbyshire City Council HL 1981
The particular individual on whom the task of forming the relevant opinion had been imposed by statute could not possibly perform all the tasks delegated to the relevant financial officer. He had, and needed, a staff to perform his functions, and it . .

Cited by:

CitedYounger Homes (Northern) Ltd v First Secretary of State and Another Admn 26-Nov-2003
The claimant sought to quash a planning decision on the basis that a screening decision had not been made.
Held: Though the procedures within the authority could have been bettered, there was no formal requirement for a screening option to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.192004