Government backs bill on judicial reviews
The Government has approved the drafting of a bill aimed at speeding up planning decisions.
The bill would amend the Planning and Development Act 2024 to extend changes to judicial-review processes to decisions made or acts done under the previous 2000 planning act.
According to the Department of Housing, the changes include the removal of the requirement to apply for ‘leave’ to apply for judicial-review proceedings.
The bill would also enable a case to be remitted back to the point at which a procedural breach may have occurred, as an alternative to the whole case having to be quashed, and remove the possibility of further legal appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Delivery
The bill will also amend the 2024 act by:
- Clarifying the focus and extent of any review of (removing the need for full review of) the regional spatial and economic strategies,
- Allowing planning authorities to extend the development plans that are currently in force, while also making the necessary variations to take account of the updated Housing Growth Requirements Guidelines set out in the National Planning Framework earlier this year, and
- Ensuring that future development-plan reviews are carried out only under the 2024 act.
Remove barriers
Minister for Housing James Browne said that the Government decision would pave the way for primary legislation to be brought forward “as early as possible in 2026” that would “remove barriers in the planning process and, ultimately, speed up housing delivery”.
He added that the proposed bill would run in parallel with the continuing implementation of the 2024 act.