Treasury sets fixed window for legal challenges to major water projects

(by Karma Loveday)

There will be a fixed legal challenge window for water projects under new government policy to drive through infrastructure delivery.

A HM Treasury policy paper, Getting Britain building: reforming judicial review for infrastructure, seeks to protect prospective major infrastructure from long drawn out legal challenge.

The top tier of protection went to major clean energy projects. These are designated of ‘Critical National Importance’ and protected from exposure to judicial review on all but human rights grounds. For all other nationally significant infrastructure – including transport and water projects – the Government will introduce a fixed legal challenge window, at the end of which the planning consent could be updated to address any legitimate issues.

Treasury said: “This would reduce the potential grounds for judicial review – and where any continue to be pressed, courts would be able to make use of existing reforms to deny permission where it was clear the claim was without merit. The law would also be changed to require the courts to refuse permission for a judicial review to proceed on any issues not brought up during the consenting period or in the challenge window – meaning that developers can then proceed with full confidence that no successive spurious challenges can be raised at a later stage.”

The changes build on the provisions of the Planning and Infrastructure Act. Treasury pointed out that: “Of 167 Development Consent Order decisions made since 2008, just six were quashed following a challenge – with many more failed processes costing developers, taxpayers and the economy billions in delays and wasted time.”