Pre-judicial review permission

R (Davey) v Aylesbury Vale District Council CA TLR 21 November

After a full hearing of judicial review proceedings, the claimant was ordered to pay 75% of the costs of the defendant council, not to include costs of the permission hearing. It ought not ordinarily to be necessary for a public body on which a claim for judicial review was served to do much additional work before completing its acknowledgement of service. In the nature of things, it should already know what it has done and why. If on inspection, it realised it had slipped up, it might well not oppose the permission application. For the rest, its proper course was to explain its decision and any further grounds of opposition in short form and wait to see if, with or without a contested court hearing, permission was granted to challenge it. The court gave these guidelines, subject to the caveats in the following judgment of the Master of Rolls: