Liberal Democrat Councillor Fraser Macpherson, of Dundee City Council has been in talks with a senior Council legal officer regarding the viability of a legal challenge to the decision to close four Dundee Post Offices, he revealed in the pages of his own blog.

Cllr Macpherson is quoted as saying, “I believe the so called consultation process over the closure proposals was little more than a sham…”

“I think the consultation process was fatally flawed, partly in relation to the inappropriately short consultation period of just six weeks. Although the Greater London Authority’s recent attempt to force judicial review in relation to London Post Office closures was rejected by the High Court, what has become clear is that the Cabinet Office’s own guidance states that 12 weeks minimum is good practice for public consultations and therefore Post Office Limited’s six week consultation falls far short of such good practice.

Absolvitor: Scots Law Online will continue to follow this matter with interest, but notes (for the time being) that many of the complaints regarding the consultation which would be raised by Dundee City Council as part of any judicial process are exactly the same things which the good people of Scotland say about local authorities’ own consultations on, for example, school closures. And what’s good for the goose …