PM targets ‘time-wasting’ appeals

















The right to legally challenge government policies will be limited to help bolster the economy, David Cameron is expected to say later.













Opponents will have less time to apply for judicial review, face higher fees and will have their chances of appealing halved.


The minister will tell business leaders this is so “people think twice about time-wasting” to delay developments.


He will call for wartime thinking when “rules were circumvented”.


Wartime spirit


In a speech to the CBI in London on Monday, Mr Cameron will say the country is in the “economic equivalent of war” and needs the “same spirit.”


He will argue for less bureaucracy as the emphasis is put on the pursuit of economic growth.


The prime minister is expected to say the legal right to a judicial review of decisions, including major infrastructure projects, will be scaled back, insisting: “We urgently need to get a grip on this”.


It is unclear yet how much the fees would rise by for review applications or how far the three-month time limit for applications might be cut.


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When this country was at war in the 40s, Whitehall underwent a revolution”



End Quote David Cameron


But he will add that “instead of giving hopeless cases up to four bites of the cherry to appeal a decision, we will halve that to two.”


Downing Street figures show more than 11,000 applications for judicial review were made in 2011, compared to just 160 in 1975. Around one in six applications were granted.


He is expected to accept the government is “too slow in getting stuff done,” amid concern about interested parties and that civil servants in Whitehall must appreciate delays are felt in “businesses going bust, jobs being lost” and “livelihoods being destroyed.”


He will draw an analogy with how the country responded to fighting Hitler.


“When this country was at war in the 40s, Whitehall underwent a revolution.


“Normal rules were circumvented. Convention was thrown out. As one historian put it, everything was thrown at ‘the overriding purpose’ of beating Hitler.


“Well, this country is in the economic equivalent of war today – and we need the same spirit. We need to forget about crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ – and we need to throw everything we’ve got at winning in this global race.”


Earlier this year the government published a new planning framework designed to streamline planning.


But a draft version of the framework was amended, amid fears from countryside groups that swathes of green belt land were being put at risk.


Elsewhere at the conference Labour leader Ed Miliband is also due to make a speech in which he will warn Britain is “sleepwalking” into leaving the European Union, a move which could undermine the UK’s economy and leave it “voiceless and powerless”.


BBC News – Business



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