Lawyers for John Mussington have told the Privy Council that the Marine Biologist does have standing to challenge the construction of the Airport on Barbuda.
The lawyer told the Lords of the Privy Council that there is no requirement that Mussington have expertise in airport construction.
He argued that the appellants are not busy bodies and have a genuine interest in their island.
Issue
Whether the Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that the Appellants did not have standing to pursue judicial review proceedings against a decision to grant a development permit for the construction of a new airport runway.
Facts
In 2017 the Government of Antigua and Barbuda decided to build a new airport on the island of Barbuda. In July 2018, the Development Control Authority (“DCA”) granted a development permit for the construction of the airport.
The Appellants sought both leave to file judicial review proceedings challenging the DCA’s approval of the project and an interim injunction to stop construction of the work on the airport runway.
The High Court granted both, however the Court of Appeal set aside the injunction.
In September 2018, the Appellants made a fresh application to the High Court for an interim injunction. In February 2020, the High Court refused the injunction.
The Appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal, whereby the Second Respondent counter appealed against the High Court’s finding that the Appellants had standing to apply for judicial review.
The Court of Appeal rejected the Appellant’s appeal and allowed the Second Respondent’s counter appeal to the effect that the Appellants did not have standing to pursue judicial review against the DCA’s grant of a development permit.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATS APP GROUP
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
I have no doubt that Mussington will win this case. The threshold for “Standing” in the UK and other parts of the world is quite low; in comparison with the jurisprudence in the eastern Caribbean. I know that if this case was to be heard in the CCJ they would have overruled the Court of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean. Locus standi especially on environmental issues and on issues of general and genuine concerns about constitutional matters are normally given standing. The threshold for these kind of matters is quite low; challenging these matters are critical in a democratic society…and saying to the public body “not so fast…hold brakes…”. Too often I see courts hopping out of fundamental provision matters under the guise of things like standing or alternative remedies available in private law…according to the President of the CCJ, writing extra-judicially, what should be the exception become the norm to exclude these kind of cases.
Comments are closed.