The High Court granted James and Margaret Talbot leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in a planning judicial review case, certifying two questions as matters of exceptional public importance.
In a judgment delivered on 16 November 2005, Mr Justice Michael Peart said clarification was desirable because his earlier decision had refused leave to seek judicial review, and similar exercises of the court’s discretion could arise in future cases. The judgment says that earlier decision was delivered on 21 June 2005.
The first certified question asks whether a court hearing an on-notice application under section 50 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, may refuse leave to seek judicial review on the basis that the applicant would gain no benefit in any event.
The second asks whether, if a court may refuse leave on that basis, it can infer from the application material that a future planning-permission application would be refused anyway on grounds the judicial review proceedings did not challenge.
The court certified the questions and granted leave to appeal. The judgment does not decide how the Supreme Court should answer them, and records no Supreme Court outcome or further order.