New rules relating to Judicial Review will be brought in to force on 1^st July 2013, the Government has announced today. A key change is the cutting of the time limit for applying for a Judicial Review of planning decisions from three months to six weeks. In addition, the new rules will remove the right of an oral hearing if the written application is considered by the judge to be “totally without merit”, whilst a modest court fee will be payable for anyone seeking an oral hearing in person following a written judicial review application being turned down. These changes, whilst hardly revolutionary, are welcomed, as they have the effect of reducing the ‘at risk’ period from 90 days to 42.