Opinions split over justice secretary's vision of special planning court for large-scale building projects

The Ministry of Justice is considering the establishment of a specialist planning court to speed up the review process for large-scale infrastructure projects, as part of a "radical" set of proposals to reform public law and speed up the economic recovery.

An eight-week consultation on a raft of proposed changes to the judicial review system was announced by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling (pictured) last week, including a separate 'planning chamber' staffed by expert judges; a tighter timeframe for applications; only allowing people with a direct interest in cases to apply for judicial review; and changing the rules around who has to pay legal costs so applicants foot part of the bill.