17 November 2011
R (on the application of Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust) v Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts and another [2011] EWHC 2986 (Admin), [2011] All ER (D) 44 (Nov)
It was an established principle that first, where a public authority had issued a promise or adopted a practice which represented how it proposed to act in a given area, the law would require the promise or practice to be honoured unless there was a good reason not to do so. Second, a legitimate expectation required a clear and unequivocal representation. A conclusion that a consultation exercise was unlawful on the ground of unfairness would be based upon a finding by the court, not merely that something went wrong, but that something went “clearly and radically” wrong.
