It has long been asserted that a public consultation is fault-intolerant. By this we mean that one can be successful at almost everything required but fail on one relatively small aspect yet bring the entire consultation crashing down. Or so it seems.

Many a consultor has felt this way when brought to the Courts. However in practice, recent judicial reviews have tended to focus not on the details of dialogue methods but more about the intent and integrity of consultations. In the words of Mr Justice Turner in last month’s case of     R (ex parte Gate …) v Secretary of State for Transport & Lancashire CC,

“..a decision following a consultation process is not unlawful simply because it is possible in hindsight to conceive of a process that would have been an improvement on that which was actually carried out.”