British justice is like the Ritz Hotel: open to all. So runs the old joke, but the irony is as much geographical as financial when it comes to certain areas of the law. While there are plenty of public law litigants in the provinces, they do not have access to all of the relevant remedies locally.
Take Birmingham as an example. The Immigration Appellate Authority has recently refurbished and expanded its hearing centre at Sheldon in Birmingham to try to accommodate the volume of work, in particular asylum appeals, which now need to be dealt with in the West Midlands. Local authorities, including the largest council in the country, Birmingham City Council, are daily operating their housing and education powers, giving rise to judicial review claims by those disappointed by the exercise of their discretion. The city is home to many national developers who need to challenge the grant of planning permission, the adoption of development plans or the granting of planning permission.
