Uttlesford District Council v English Heritage [2007] EWHC 816 (Admin)

Stephen Whale successfully represented the licensing authority in a High Court appeal by way of case stated against an order for costs in the magistrates’ court (in which he did not appear) under the Licensing Act 2003. The magistrates’ court had ordered the licensing authority to pay all of English Heritage’s costs in the sum of £16,802.50. The High Court quashed this award, and substituted the sum of £5,581.00. It also ordered English Heritage to pay in full the licensing authority’s costs of its High Court appeal in the sum of £7,423.75. The judgment in this case (which considered three earlier decisions) is now the leading authority on the correct approach as to costs under section 181 of the Licensing Act 2003. Click here for the judgment