In December, Durham Law School’s Elizabeth O’Loughlin submitted evidence to the Ministry of Justice.
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In December, Durham Law School’s Elizabeth O’Loughlin submitted evidence to the Ministry of Justice call for evidence on suggested reforms to judicial review of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.
The call for evidence, which closed on 30 December 2024, sought views on the recommendations of the Independent Review of Legal Challenges to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) by Lord Banner KC. Dr O’Loughlin’s submission, which was co-authored with Professor Maurice Sunkin (University of Essex), suggested, amongst other things, that if the number of attempts to secure permission to apply for judicial review of Development Consent Orders for NSIPs were reduced, then this should be reduced to two attempts: an oral hearing and maintenance of the right of appeal. The Minister of State for Justice has now confirmed a number of changes in a House of Commons statement made on 23 January 2025, including that all applications for permission will proceed directly to oral hearing, with access to appeal, save for applications that are deemed Totally Without Merit. The rationale for the reforms is to reduce costs to parties and to speed up the hearing of judicial reviews to significant infrastructure projects that are potentially delayed by such challenges.
Dr O’Loughlin and Professor Sunkin’s evidence is available to read here.