VerbatimParliament, as it happens

Roads: Judicial Review

Asked by Blake StephensonConservativeDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 15 May 2025UIN 50643

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the average length of time that judicial reviews took to complete for road infrastructure projects between 2015 and 2025.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood

Between 2015 and 2025, 11 judicial reviews were submitted in relation to Development Consent Orders for road infrastructure projects. The Department successfully defended 9 of these, highlighting the fair, legally robust decisions the Department makes to deliver major infrastructure.

Judicial reviews must be lodged within six weeks of a decision being issued. The length of the process is entirely in the hands of courts. The average length of time between a decision and legal proceedings concluding for these 11 cases was 437 days.

The Planning & Infrastructure Bill will streamline legal challenges to major infrastructure projects, reducing delays from unmerited claims and supporting faster delivery of nationally significant projects.

Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →

Open this question in Verbatim →

Every written question, searchable

155,000 questions tabled since the election, with the answer each department gave — and the ones still unanswered, with the clock running. Free to search.

Search written questions →Read on Verbatim