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Extensive use of judicial reviews by councils is undermining policy-making and imposing unnecessary costs on taxpayers, John Healey has warned. The local government minister told The MJ that too many councils were now launching legal reviews ‘simply to challenge government policies with which they do not agree' – such as the introduction of new unitary authorities. Judicial reviews, he said, were introduced to assess the legality, not the appropriateness, of government policy. Speaking to an audience of local government lawyers last week, Mr Healey said he regarded the judicial review process as ‘a vital cornerstone' of democracy. But, he added: ‘If it is over-used or used for the wrong reasons – as a substitute for proper engagement in policy, for political point-scoring, or as a device to delay proper decision-making – it can have unintended consequences.' The CLG spent £2.5m on litigation in 2007/08, but the bill for councils was far higher, because central government receives legal advice up to eight times cheaper than ‘commercial' advice provided to town halls. Yet proposed judicial reviews are likely to fail. In 2007, there were 6,690 review requests. Just 3% were permitted to go ahead and only half of them (114) were successful. The CLG faced nine reviews of its latest unitary proposals, but none were successful. ‘I ask whether we can justify spending taxpayers' money on one part of government taking another part of government to court,' Mr Healey said. ‘In many instances, the case itself is not sound or it's a legal try-on to derail policy decisions because the challenging party disputes the policy intent.'

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WHITEHALL

'Costly' judicial reviews hit policies, says Healey

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