Deepdock Ltd & Ors, R (on the application of) v The Welsh Ministers

Challenges to decisions of Welsh national or local authorities in devolved areas, particularly where they affect people in Wales, should ordinarily be heard in Wales unless there is good reason to list them elsewhere. Venue is not determined by the issuing office or by the convenience of legal representatives. The court should weigh the parties’ convenience, cost, judicial resources, local interest, transparency, and the location of the relevant public authority. Local administration of justice and the visibility of proceedings to affected communities are important considerations.

The claims concerned a proposed marina at Gallows Point, Anglesey, and included a judicial review challenge to a licence granted under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985. Related declaratory proceedings concerned the validity and effect of the Menai Strait Oyster and Mussel Fishery Order 1962. At a case management conference, the court transferred and joined the proceedings and had to decide whether the substantive hearing should take place in London, Cardiff, Llangefni or Caernarfon.

The principal issue was the appropriate venue for proceedings challenging decisions of Welsh public authorities and raising matters of substantial local concern.

1. Venue directed to North West Wales. The proceedings were ordered to be heard in either Llangefni or Caernarfon. The case for a North West Wales venue was held to be overwhelming.
2. Challenges to decisions of a Welsh national or local authority in a devolved area, affecting the people of Wales, should ordinarily be heard in Wales unless there is good reason for a different venue. This principle was strengthened by the development of devolved government and the increasing powers of the National Assembly for Wales.
3. The place where a claim is issued is a matter of form and carries no material weight in deciding the hearing venue. The convenience of legal representatives and the costs associated with their chosen location are relevant but subordinate considerations. Cost efficiency forms part of the overriding objective under CPR Rule 1.1, but parties cannot ordinarily dictate venue by instructing representatives elsewhere and relying on resulting costs.
4. The court was required to consider wider matters, including the location of the relevant Welsh public authority under CPR Rule 30.3(2)(h), the convenience of the parties, available judicial resources, expedition, local public interest, and the principle that justice should be seen to be done. The local environmental, employment and fisheries issues made a Welsh venue particularly appropriate.
5. The observations in Condron v The National Assembly for Wales [2006] EWCA Civ 1573, reported at [2007] LGA 87, were judicial dicta, but the present case was materially similar and provided an even stronger case for a Welsh hearing. The court therefore adopted the broader principle that a Welsh Administrative Court claim should ordinarily be heard in Wales unless good reason existed to the contrary.

Not stated in the judgment. The decision was made at a case management conference in joined judicial review and declaratory proceedings.