The Secretary of State has reduced the time limit for submitting applications for judicial review in relation to planning decisions. This will provide developers with more certainty when waiting to commence development following the grant of planning permission.
The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.4) Rules 2013 will come into force on 1 July 2013.
Under the amended provisions, applications to judicially review planning decisions will have a new time limit of six weeks rather than 3 months.
The transitional provisions specify that the reduced time limit for the submission of a judicial review application will be effective in relation to applications where the “grounds” to make the claim arise after 1 July 2013. The reference to “grounds” relates to the grant of the planning decision. The new provisions therefore indicate that planning decisions made before 1 July 2013 will remain subject to the original 3 month time limit.
At present the period of 3 months after the grant of planning consent in which the consent can be challenged means there can be a delay in developments as you cannot safely activate your planning consent until the 3 month period has expired. The reduction in the time limit will mean that the work can be started 6 weeks earlier.
For further information, please see here and here.
Catherine North is a Solicitor in the Commercial Property Department. Catherine can be contacted on 0116 281 6226 or by email at Catherine@bhwsolicitors.com.
