Facts: Stockton on Tees resolved to close a care home. Its report to Cabinet failed properly to draw attention to the risks involved, to the health and lives of residents, but those risks were then drawn to the attention of the Scrutiny committee. By the time of the hearing, only the claimant remained in residence, at substantial cost to the authority, and there was medical evidence that it was in her best interests to move elsewhere.

Judgment: Wilkie J dismissed the claimant’s application for a judicial review of the closure decision, on the basis that the risks entailed by moving elsewhere had been considered by the authority, albeit belatedly and that, in any event, he would have refused relief in the light of the substantial cost to the authority of keeping the home open, the very small risk to the claimant’s health which could be minimised by careful transfer arrangements and the existence of medical evidence that it was in the claimant’s best interests to move.