Council granted court hearing over BSF cuts
Nottingham City Council has been granted permission for a full court hearing over the halted Building Schools for the Future funding. The council's application for a judicial review of the decision to stop the funding for Top Valley and Trinity Schools will be heard in court, it has been confirmed.
In October this year, the council lodged papers in the Leeds Administrative Court requesting permission to apply for a judicial review of the education secretary's decision on 5 July 2010 to stop funding for Top Valley and Trinity Schools.
The council claims that Michael Gove's decision was “contrary to the council's legitimate expectation that the funding would be forthcoming, given that the Outline Business Case (OBC) for the three schemes had been approved in February 2010”.
It also describes the decision made by Gove as “irrational, in arbitrarily using 1 January 2010 as a cut-off date for stopping funding of BSF projects”.
After reviewing the papers submitted by the council, the Honourable Mr Justice Langstaff has stated: "The claim raises arguable issues, which merit a full hearing."
The hearing will consider the similar challenges made by Luton, Kent and Waltham Forest.
