The Environmental Agency of Happyland (a jurisdiction in the USP region) was established by the Sustainable Development & Environmental Goals & Tourism Promotion Act (2020) (SDEGTP Act). It has been staffed by members of the public service and regulated by a council comprising five persons representative of the environmental protection and development industry, appointed by the Minister for the Environment, development and tourism.

The Corporation has power to organize the field of environment, property, tourism and associated fields inside and outside the country, and to organize training programs for all persons involved in that industry. Assume that the SDEGTP Act also provides that "applications for approval to operate a tourist resort may be made to the council of the corporation, and the council may, if satisfied that the applicant has sufficient relevant knowledge and experience to operate a tourist resort, and has paid the prescribed fees, grant a licence to operate a tourist resort to that applicant", and also provides that "it is an offence to operate a tourist resort without a licence."

1. Your client has applied for a licence to operate the "Golden Sands" resort, and paid the prescribed fees, but the council has written to him advising that the council is not accepting any applications for tourist resorts because it has higher priorities at the moment and does not have sufficient staff to process such applications. Could this decision be successfully challenged by judicial review, and, if so, what would be the appropriate remedy?

2. What difference, if any, would it make to your answer to question 1 if your client has applied for a licence to operate the "Golden Sands" resort, and paid the prescribed fees, but the council has written to him advising that the council is not accepting any applications for tourist resorts because it considers that there are sufficient tourist resorts operating in the country. As a second reason, the council states that it plans to rezone the area in which the planned resort is situated to that of a zone of 'special concern in regards to environmental matters' for which the requirements for approval are not yet clear. Could this decision be successfully challenged by judicial review, and, if so, what would be the appropriate remedy?

3. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it has considered his application but that it was not satisfied that he had been living in the country long enough to be suitable to be involved in tourism in your country, and so must decline his application?

4. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it has considered his application but that it was not satisfied that he had sufficient experience in tour operations, and so must decline his application?

5. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it had considered his application but that it had decided that it wanted to promote ownership of resorts by indigenous citizens that look after the environment in a traditional way, and since your client was not an indigenous citizen, the licence was refused?

6. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it had considered his application, but that it had decided that licences should not be granted to operate small tourism resorts because it wanted to promote large scale resorts that can 'effectively deal with environmental matters with an established infrastructure and staff', and since "Golden Sands" tourism resort was a very small resort, his application was refused?

7. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it had considered his application, but that it had decided that licences should not be granted to persons who had 'relevant' criminal convictions (pertaining to environmental crimes such as pollution), and since your client had a criminal conviction for stealing two years ago, his application was refused?

8. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it had considered his application, but that it had decided that licences should not be granted to persons who had less than 10 years experience in managing tourism resorts, and since your client had only 9 years experience in operating a tourism resort, even although the references from his former associates spoke very highly of his knowledge and experience (especially in terms of environmental management of tourism impacts), his application was refused?

9. What advice would you give to your client in question (1) if the council had written to your client advising him that it had considered his application, but that it had decided that licences should not normally be granted to persons who had less than 10 years experience in managing tourism resorts, and since your client had only 9 years' experience in operating a tourism resort and that the references from his former employers did not speak well of his knowledge and experience, his application was refused?