A Minister or statutory decision-maker who delays in determining a licence application does not owe a common law duty of care to the applicant to make the decision within a reasonable time, even where a public law duty to do so exists, where the salient features analysis — including incoherence with the statutory scheme, the applicant's ability to protect itself through judicial review or mandamus, and indeterminacy of potential claims — weighs against such a duty. An applicant who proceeds to incur expenditure in reliance on an anticipated favourable decision, without pressing for determination or seeking judicial remedies, is not vulnerable in the relevant sense.
The full text is available to signed-in members.