Under the (fictitious) Waste Management Act 2009, Oldcastle City Council is responsible for ‘providing the necessary facilities for processing urban waste’. Using this power, the council votes to...

Under the (fictitious) Waste Management Act 2009, Oldcastle City Council is responsible for ‘providing the necessary facilities for processing urban waste’. Using this power, the council votes to build a sewage treatment works in the suburb of Clearwater. Oldcastle Concerned Residents is a civic group which opposes the council’s decision to build a sewage works in Clearwater. Half of the members of Oldcastle Concerned Residents live in Clearwater, within 1,000 metres of the site of the sewage works. Oldcastle Concerned Residents object to the role of John, the Oldcastle City Council’s Planning Officer, who suggested Clearwater as a viable site for the sewage works to the council. John is a resident of the suburb of Blackwater, and Oldcastle Concerned Residents assert that he proposed Clearwater as the site so as not to lower property prices in Blackwater. O ldcastle Concerned Residents further contend that sewage is not ‘urban waste’ within the terms of the Waste Management Act 2009. In support of this contention, they rely on a statement to the media by Sheila, the minister responsible for introducing the Waste Management Act 2009 to Parliament, that, ‘this Act is more concerned with solid waste incinerators than sewage works’. T wo months after the council’s decision, Oldcastle Concerned Residents approach you for advice. Work has already begun on the site of the sewage works. Explain to the members of Oldcastle Concerned Residents whether these facts indicate that they will be able to fulfil the procedural requirements to seek a judicial review.