Wealden District Council will not pursue further legal action after Judicial Review decision

Wealden District Council has been advised that to pursue a new Judicial Review against the Home Office is unlikely to achieve anything of practical value and that a claim could potentially be counterproductive. The council’s view is it would be morally wrong to stay silent about this legal advice, because to do so would raise false hope and would likely be a waste of taxpayer’s money. 

 

The council has always been strongly opposed to the use of the site for this purpose and participated in the recent court hearing as an interested party, providing supporting evidence to ensure that the Court was fully informed of local impacts and procedural history. Crowborough Shield’s claim was rejected because the judge deemed them to have jumped the gun by starting the claim before the Home Office had made a decision. 

 

In its advice, Wealden District Council’s King’s Counsel team advised that whilst there are ‘arguable errors of law in relation to the Habitats Regulations and the EIA Regulations and the recreational pressure on the Ashdown Forest, these are easily corrected by government’. As the premature claim gave government notice of these errors, we now expect them to be corrected before any new claim could reach the court. Even if the court upheld a judicial review on those grounds, the likely impact would be to allow the government to re-take its decision and potentially start the 12-month clock again; meaning the camp would be open for even longer.  

 

Crucially, the King’s Counsel team have not identified any legal argument that would stop the Secretary of State from using the Camp for asylum accommodation in principle.  

 

The King’s Counsel team have also advised that there is no legally arguable basis on which the council could challenge the government’s decision to not allow the council to take planning enforcement action.  

 

They advise there is little or no prospect of Wealden successfully arguing that there is no emergency, to justify the use of emergency planning powers by the Home Office, this having been accepted by the High Court in previous cases.  

 

Finally, if Wealden District Council was to bring the claim, it would not benefit from the Aarhus costs cap which limits claimants’ exposure to the Government’s legal costs (and would be available to Crowborough Shield) because the caps do not apply when the claimant is a public body. To risk public money on paying the Government’s uncapped legal costs when advised that a claim is likely to fail would be irresponsible and morally wrong. 

 

The council will continue to work with the Home Office and other partners to minimise any further impacts on the community. 

 

Leader of the council, Councillor James Partridge, said, “Whilst this comes as a major disappointment to us all, it would be wrong of the council to remain silent about its legal advice. We all wanted to stop the Home Office as this camp is good for no-one. The Home Office has failed Crowborough. But to keep fighting a legal challenge that is doomed to fail helps nobody. Throwing good money after bad is simply wrong. We must all now turn our attention to making sure that everyone feels safe and secure. We will continue to press the Home Office to do their job properly and to engage better with us all”