David Cameron to announce moves to make it more difficult for opponents of major schemes to challenge them through the courts
David Cameron is to launch a new drive to speed up the planning system by making it more difficult for groups opposed to major infrastructure projects to challenge them in the courts.
In a speech to the CBI annual conference today, the prime minister is expected to tell business leaders he will 鈥済et a grip鈥� on people forcing unnecessary delays through the courts, with the government bringing forward measures to make judicial review applications cost more, as well as giving opponents to schemes less time to apply and fewer chances to appeal.
The prime minister is expected to say the legal right to a judicial review of decisions, including major infrastructure projects, has grown out of control and must be scaled back.
He is expected to say: 鈥淪o here鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going to do: reduce the time limit when people can bring cases; charge more for reviews - so people think twice about time-wasting.
鈥淸And] Instead of giving hopeless cases up to four bites of the cherry to appeal a decision, we will halve that to two鈥�.
Cameron is also expected to launch a fresh attack on bureaucracy in Whitehall saying the government is 鈥渢oo slow in getting stuff done鈥� and that civil servants must appreciate delays are felt in 鈥渂usinesses going bust, jobs being lost鈥� and 鈥渓ivelihoods being destroyed鈥�.
鈥淐onsultations, impact assessments, audits, reviews, stakeholder management, securing professional buy-in, complying with EU procurement rules, assessing sector feedback - this is not how we became one of the most powerful, prosperous nations on earth,鈥� he will say.
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