Tag: Treasury Solicitor

Smith v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor

Posted on | by Aileen McColgan KC | Leave a Comment on Smith v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor

Court of Appeal, Sir Keith Lindblom, Holroyde and Coulson LJJ, [2022] EWCA Civ 1391, 31 October 2022

The claimant/ appellant successfully appealed the refusal of her application to quash a decision dismissing her appeal against a refusal of her application for planning permission for a permanent site for Gypsies and Travellers. The definition of “Gypsies and Travellers”, set out in the policy document “Planning Policy for Traveller Sites” (“PPTS 2015”) had been amended in 2015 to remove the express inclusion within the category of “Gypsies and Travellers” of those who permanently ceased to travel as a result of, inter alia, disability or old age. The effect of the exclusion was that the claimant was not regarded for planning purposes as a Traveller. Continue reading →

R (Good Law Project Ltd & Anor) v Prime Minister & Anor

Posted on | by Aileen McColgan KC | Leave a Comment on R (Good Law Project Ltd & Anor) v Prime Minister & Anor

Queen’s Bench Division (Divisional Court): Singh LJ and Swift J, [2022] EWHC 298 (Admin),15 February 2022

This decision is most interesting for its approach to standing, in particular that the Good Law Project’s roving approach to JR challenges did not provide it with standing for such challenges. The Court also rejected the claim of the Runnymeade Trust, which it accepted did have standing on a PSED challenge, to standing to challenge as indirectly discriminatory  the many informal appointments to positions of responsibility which characterised the approach of the UK Government’s approach under the pandemic. Such claims were in the Divisional Court’s view properly brought by individual litigants who sought to challenge their own exclusion from consideration rather than by either claimant, and were not the proper subject of judicial review. Having decided that the Runnymede Trust did have standing to challenge the defendant’s compliance with the PSED the court  concluded that the duty had been breached in relation to two of the appointments. Continue reading →