Christchurch Borough Council rules out appeal over judicial review dismissal

Christchurch Borough Council has agreed not to submit an appeal to the Court of Appeal following the refusal of its application for judicial review of local government reorganisation in Dorset.

On Friday Sir Ross Cranston in the High Court had refused to grant leave to appeal. In a judgment issued earlier in the month he rejected Christchurch’s argument that the then Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, had acted outside his powers in passing the legislation to allow the reorganisation to go ahead.

Cllr David Flagg, Leader of Christchurch Borough Council, said: “Having been refused leave to appeal by the judge it was important that the advice of counsel and officers was considered when deciding the best way forward.

“In light of the decision we feel that the best way for us to proceed is to focus our work on getting the best for our residents as we move towards local government reorganisation on 1 April 2019.”

Cllr Flagg added: “Whilst we are of course extremely disappointed with the decision of the judge the council has fought to represent the wishes of our residents throughout this process.

“Having pursued every avenue available to us we must now accept that the council will be abolished next year. We apologise that we were not successful in keeping Christchurch independent and thank all the residents who supported us in our attempts.”

Under the proposals, Christchurch is due to become part of a new unitary through a merger with Bournemouth and Poole councils.

Another 'rural' unitary would be established from East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland. The county council would cease to exist.