Mr. Tom Flynn:

There are differing views on this as well. People cannot simply appeal planning cases. They have to go before the High Court and go through a procedure where they satisfy the court that there is a certain criterion that they can then appeal to the Court of Appeal. However, they can appeal to the Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction in planning cases. There is also a separate mechanism, called a leapfrog appeal, whereby they can appeal to the Supreme Court, even if they have been unsuccessful in persuading the High Court to allow them to appeal to the Court of Appeal. It is a different threshold and will still be available.

Some people would say it does not really make any difference if the appeal to the Court of Appeal was eliminated, because there would still be constitutional cases. However, the question at a level of policy, is as to why one is singling out planning cases to say that, uniquely, these cases are not allowed to go to the Court of Appeal. Many of our members ask what the rationale for that is. We simply say it should be very carefully considered before one takes that step.