No application for judicial review could be made before the Secretary of State had confirmed a modification order. Simon Brown LJ identified three categories of case excluded from the statutory review procedure: ‘a) A failure by the statutory decision maker to exercise his jurisdiction . .
b) The reasoning underpinning the decision which is otherwise in the applicant’s favour . .
c) Some antecedent step quite separate and distinct from the eventual decision reviewable under the statute . . ‘
there were obvious benefits to a procedure that allowed a challenge to be brought only after a statutory decision making process had run its course. The first of these was ‘that the very fact that an application for judicial review cannot be made at this preliminary stage means that the inquiry will not be delayed thereby.’ Another was ‘that the Secretary of State may in any event refuse to confirm the order, thus making unnecessary any legal challenge whatever.’
Judges:
Simon Brown LJ
Citations:
[1994] 1 All ER 694
Statutes:
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Jones v Welsh Assembly Government Admn 15-Dec-2008
The County Council had made an order under section 53, establishing a footpath over the claimant’s land. The land owner now appealed. The court had previously quashed the inspector’s decision on the basis that he had not allowed for the interruption . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Planning
Updated: 27 October 2022; Ref: scu.541526
