Birmingham City Council has won an Appeal Court challenge to its decision to add £19m to its capital budget to retro-fit sprinklers in its housing blocks.
Resident Robin Clarke appealed against an earlier High Court decision that the council had acted within its powers to make the spending.
Clarke’s appeal rested on whether the cabinet had failed to take all relevant factors into consideration or give good reasons for its decision to spend the money.
This week’s appeal judgement said: “The Cabinet decided not to embark on the more detailed analysis that had been suggested, because it considered that the reasons for proceeding without further delay…outweighed the potential advantages of further investigation.
“Mr Clarke does not agree with that decision. No doubt there might be others who would take the same view.
“But it was in my judgment a decision properly taken by the Cabinet in respect of which no legal error has been identified and the challenge to it must be dismissed.”
