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27 June 2013 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7566 / Categories: Features , Public
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Time’s winged chariot

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Do not delay in bringing judicial review proceedings, warns Nicholas Dobson

Take a large measure of public sector austerity, season generously with political philosophy and slow-cook for some years in a warm council decision oven to get a dish delicious to some, but distasteful to others. The chef in question was London Borough of Barnet. For on 6 December 2012 the council decided to implement a long-gestating policy to outsource a substantial variety of council services.

The resident claimant and others were concerned that if the council’s proposals were implemented they would “lead to a serious deterioration in the council’s services, partly...because they believe that private sector organisations cannot evince the public service ethos...so important in the delivery of the council’s service”.

However, as Underhill LJ pointed out in the Administrative Court on 29 April 2013 (R (Nash) v London Borough of Barnet [2013] EWHC 1067 (Admin); [2013] All ER (D) 60 (May)): “It is not...for the court to decide whether those fears are justified. The decisions can only be challenged on the basis that the council has not acted in accordance

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