Changes to Judicial Review in planning cases confirmed

The changes to judicial review in relation to planning cases will come into effect as of 1 July 2013.

To summarise, as expected the changes are:

• The time limit to file a claim form has been reduced six weeks from the date on which the grounds arose i.e. the grant of planning permission
• If the Court decides that any claim is “totally without merit”, the right to request an oral hearing is removed
• The amendments do not apply to existing JR claims
• The amendments also do not apply to grants of planning permission before 1 July 2013

Any developers expecting a planning permission may appreciate delaying the issue of this until the 1 July so as to benefit from the reduced periods.