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A zero sum game?

The number of SEND tribunal cases is rising and the proportion of appeals ‘lost’ by local authorities is at a record high. Lottie Winson talks to education lawyers to understand the reasons why, and sets out the results of Local Government Lawyer’s exclusive survey.

Court refuses permission for challenge to decision by Welsh council to close school

A claimant’s application for permission for a judicial review challenge over a Welsh council’s decision to close a school has been rejected after an oral hearing, it has been reported.

The case of R (B) v Neath Port Talbot CBC concerned the council’s decision to close Cymer Afan Comprehensive School.

The claimants argued that this decision was taken in breach of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Neath Port Talbot submitted that the Act imposed general duties not giving a right to an individual to claim judicial review in the event of a breach allegedly affecting him or her; but that, if that was wrong, the council had complied with its duties in any event.

According to 11KBW, whose Peter Oldham QC and Jen Coyne appeared for Neath Port Talbot, the court found that, assuming in the claimant’s favour that she was entitled to bring a judicial review claim enforcing provisions of the Act in these circumstances, the council had indeed complied with its obligations under the Act. It therefore refused the application for permission.