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	England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Chancepixies Animal Welfare, R (On the Application Of) v North Kesteven District Council [2016] EWHC 3617 (Admin) (06 July 2016) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2016/3617.html Cite as: [2016] EWHC 3617 (Admin)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A 2LL
		6 July 2016

1. MR JUSTICE EDIS: On 28 June 2016 I granted the claimant permission to pursue judicial review proceedings to seek a quashing order in relation to a dog breeding licence granted by the defendant to Swindells Livestock Limited dated 18 January 2016, backdated to 1 January 2016. I granted permission to seek judicial review in that regard because there appeared to be a technical defect in the licence, in that it was, on its face, backdated. There is no power in the Act to do that. The defendant had apparently acknowledged the force of that point by purporting to revoke it.
2. I considered that it is arguable that the defendant has no power under the relevant Act to revoke a licence. The Act contains provisions for cancellation by a court but no provision for revocation or variation by the Local Authority.
3. The Local Authority have subsequently agreed that a quashing order should be made in respect of the January licence. They also accept that a quashing order should be made in respect of a second subsequent licence granted by them to the interested party on 27 June 2016.
4. In those circumstances, I had contemplated that a consent order could be drawn up between the claimant and the defendant which gave effect to the defendant's decisions in relation to those two licences. The parties are indeed agreed that that should happen and the hearing this morning might in fact have been avoided but for a letter from the interested party, received by the court yesterday, which indicates that the interested party does not agree to the making of a consent order. The interested party has not attended but indicated that, in the event that an order was made, it would seek to appeal.
5. It appears to me that the interested party has almost no comprehension of the way in which judicial review proceedings ought to be conducted and that the interested party ought to take urgent steps to seek advice as a limited company. It may perhaps appear with permission by a director but legal advice would seem to be urgently required.
6. Although the interested party has not troubled to attend this hearing and has not in fact participated in these proceedings in any formal way at all, it seems to me that it would be wrong simply to ignore that letter and make the order agreed between the claimant and the defendant anyway. I ought to give the interested party an opportunity to participate in these proceedings properly if that is what the interested party decides to do. The interested party, if it continues to resist the making of quashing orders and seeks to uphold one or other of these two licences, will do so on the usual terms as to costs, which is that the successful party recovers its costs from the unsuccessful party unless some unusual circumstances exist. Therefore the interested party has a significant decision to make as to what it wishes to do.
7. I am not going to make any order at all today, I am going simply to adjourn this hearing for a period of approximately 14 days. I say "approximately" because I will leave it to the parties, including the interested party, to agree precisely when the hearing should happen, but it should happen during the week after next. It will be listed before me at 10 o'clock and a time estimate of 30 minutes will be given to it. The parties can choose which day during that week they would like it to happen. They must communicate with the court by close of business tomorrow with their agreed date.
8. The interested party, if it wishes to take any part in these proceedings and if it wishes to seek to prevent the consent order quashing the licences being made, must, by 4pm on 13 July, send a witness statement to the claimant, to the defendant and to the court, properly drawn up and properly supported by a statement of truth, which sets out what its position is in relation to these proceedings and in relation to the proposed quashing orders made in respect of the two licences which have been granted to it by the defendant this year. Further, if the interested party wishes to participate in these proceedings, the interested party must attend at the next hearing, either by an advocate instructed to appear on its behalf or, if it wishes to appear by a director, it may do so, at least for that hearing. Whether permission to appear by a director will be extended to any further hearings will be for later consideration.
9. Therefore, I adjourn this hearing and direct that if the interested party opposes the making of the proposed consent order it must file a witness statement as I have directed and it must appear at the next hearing. If no witness statement is served by it as directed I will proceed on the basis that it consents to the making of the order which has been agreed between the parties. That order, which has been the subject of some discussion this morning and by email yesterday, must therefore be served on the interested party as soon as it is in a final agreed form and, once again, I shall ask the defendant to do that. That order will be made unless the interested party files the witness statement as directed.
10. If no witness statement is served there will not be any further hearing, I will make the order without the need for any further attendance by the parties.

Thank you.

11. MR WOLFE: My Lord, the only observation I would make is about the timing of the transcript. I just have a slight anxiety about how quickly that may happen.
12. MR JUSTICE EDIS: It will need to be expedited. As soon as I get it I will amend it, approve it and it will be sent out. I can't control how long it will take but I don't think it will take all that long.