Sir – Six local authorities, Waltham Forest, Newham, Luton, Nottingham City, Sandwell and Kent County Council, are challenging the Government by applying for a judicial review of the Government’s decision, taken last July, to impose cuts by scrapping Building Schools for the Future schemes in their areas.
Grounds for their challenge include the failure of the Department for Education to consult, or to give reasons for its decision to axe the schemes.
In Oxfordshire, we have a growing campaign questioning the validity of the proposed cuts in several areas of public sector expenditure.
If the county council ratifies the threatened cuts at its meeting on February 15, its decision could be subjected to a judicial review, questioning possible procedural impropriety, irrationality and illegality.
Rather than ratifying the proposed cuts which stem from the Government’s current policy, the county council and the city council might be wise to ask the High Court for a judicial review of that Government policy, as it may be found that the Government has committed a procedural impropriety, or imposed measures that are irrational and illegal.
Mary and Rodney Stableford, Oxford
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