A High Court Judge has ruled in favour of Judicial Review of the Secretary of State’s call for bids to create new Unitary Authorities.
The Permission Hearing lasted six hours during which evidence and arguments were put forward by a QC on behalf of Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council and Congleton Borough Council and barristers for the Secretary of State and the County Councils of Shropshire and Cheshire.
In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice King granted the Borough Council permission to seek judicial review of the Secretary of State’s decision to proceed to stage 2 consultation with proposals for one unitary council in Shropshire and one in Cheshire. The councils are able to challenge the decision on three grounds:
1) Want of legal power for the Secretary of State to engage in the current process.
2) No broad cross-section of support for the unitary bids.
3) That, in the process of consultation, the Secretary of State is unfair in not also putting forward opposition cases on the DCLG web site.
SABC Chief Executive Robin Hooper was present at the hearing and commented:
“We were confident that there was a case to answer based on the evidence we were able to present to the Judge. I hope that the legal process can move swiftly now to resolve this matter.”
SABC had received messages of support from 28 councils prior to the hearing and last night a motion to special council was passed supporting the action and underlining the local concerns surrounding the unitary bid for Shropshire.
A date will be set for full Judicial Review as soon as possible.
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