Leadbetter (appellant) v The Secretary of State for Transport (respondent)
Thursday 23 November 2023
By appellants notice filed on the 6 April 2023, this is an appeal against the order of HHJ Jarman KC dated 21 March 2023.
The Appellant challenges the Guidance issued by the Respondent in January 2022 recommending a minimum kerb height of 25mm. The Appellant says that guidance was issued without proper inquiry of the effect upon visually impaired people, without adequate consultation, and is irrational. The Applicant has the support of Guide Dogs UK, the National Federation for the Blind UK, and the RNIB.
Following a substantive hearing, the claim for judicial review was allowed on Ground 2 and it was declared that the consultation exercises undertaken in July 2019 and April 2021, which informed the Guidance Documents, were unlawful by reason of the failure to provide adequate time for consideration and response. Grounds 1 and 3 regarding the duty of enquiry and rationality were dealt with together and both dismissed, as the judge did not consider that the threshold of irrationality was met.
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