Charity wins permission for judicial review over parking permits in Bath

A charity has obtained permission to proceed with a judicial review in relation to the residents’ parking scheme in Bath.

Mr Willat’s Charity was established in 1858 to provide support workers to minister to "the lowest and poorest members of society".

It owns various residential and commercial properties in the city, letting them out to maintain an income.

The charity is bringing judicial review proceedings in order to establish its rights, as the owner of properties fronting the highway, to park on the highway in central Bath.

Guy Adams of St John’s Chambers, who is acting for the charity, said: “The council maintains that by a Local Order made in 2015 all permit parking in Central Bath is now a matter for its administrative discretion, and under its policy occupiers of some of the charity’s Georgian properties, which have recently been renovated and brought back into use, are not eligible for permits.

“The making of the Order was not widely publicised and, as Mr Justice Fraser pointed out in his judgment granting permission for the judicial review to proceed, the single advertisement of the proposed order in the local newspaper did not on its face suggest that anything was going to change. The charity does not accept that the 2015 Order is a lawful order.”

Bath and North East Somerset Council has been approached for comment.