Francesca Richmond reports on local authorities successfully challenging government cuts to the school building budget
The High Court judgment handed down last month in R (Luton Borough Council and Nottingham City Council and others) v the Secretary of State for Education [2011] EWHC 217 (Admin), [2011] All ER (D) 133 (Feb) demonstrates the importance of determining whether consultation is appropriate and necessary before taking a decision that may affect specific stakeholders—even if there has been no promise or established practice of consultation and the decision itself is driven by high level political considerations.
Although the court did not identify irrationality on the part of the secretary of state in this case or substantive legitimate expectations owed to the claimants, it did find, given the way in which they had been treated, that the claimants had a legitimate expectation of consultation before such a change was made to government policy. Most interestingly, given the broad swathe of budget cuts proposed by the government that are likely to affect all areas of public life, the court found that, however pressing the economic problems that
