THE final roll of the dice for Christchurch Borough Council to prevent the merger with Bournemouth and Poole councils took place in the High Court.

A judicial review launched by the local authority against the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Christchurch Borough Council based its challenge on the view measures implemented by the Secretary of State were retrospective and beyond his powers. Representing the local authority, Nathalie Lieven QC told the court Christchurch residents, councillors and MP Sir Christopher Chope “strongly objected” to the merger proposals.

“There is an enormous amount at stake here for Christchurch Borough Council,” Ms Lieven QC said.

Ms Lieven QC detailed the relevant elements of legislation to carry out local government reorganisation - Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 – before arguing how the Dorset (Structural Changes) Regulations 2018 were used to act retrospectively.

Representing the Secretary of State, Sir James Eadie QC told the court all Dorset councils were involved in discussing reorganisation proposals as early as 2015. He said a democratic process had been followed, Christchurch had not suffered unfairly and the borough council could have voiced its concerns about the use of legislation from late-2016 onwards.

He said Christchurch Borough Council’s legal challenge had come “well beyond the last minute”.

While he said the Secretary of State encouraged councils to spend time formulating their proposals, he added that he “is not the parent, he is the midwife” in the local government reorganisation process.

“No council, no local authority has a right not to be abolished if parliament decides that is the right answer,” Sir James QC said.

He added that time and resources had been invested in developing the proposals and preparing to run the new authority from April 2019.

In response, Ms Lieven QC said: “Our case is about the use of these regulations to create a retrospective effect, to change the legal effect of a past act to have a completely different legal effect.”

Disputing that Christchurch should have spoken out sooner, she told the court it was not possible for the council to know how the legislation would be used until the order and regulations were made. She also described the merger as a "very political" issue.

A number of Christchurch Borough Council officers were present at the hearing, along with deputy leader Cllr Trish Jamieson, mayor Lesley Dedman and Christchurch MP Sir Christopher Chope.

Several Christchurch residents made the trip to the capital to attend the hearing.

Officers from Dorset’s other councils were also present at the hearing, include Jane Portman of Bournemouth Borough Council.

Sir Ross Cranston, who sat as a High Court judge at the hearing which lasted around three and half hours, told both parties he hopes to provide his decision “reasonably quickly”, but an outcome to the judicial review is not expected for a couple of weeks.

After the hearing Cllr Jamieson said: “We firmly believe the Secretary of State acted beyond his powers in passing the legislation which will lead to the creation of two new councils and hope the judge rules in our favour.

“However, whatever the outcome of today’s hearing we know that we have done all we can to protect the sovereignty of the council and represent the wishes of the residents who elected us.”