Transgender couple win council payout for defamation – Daily Telegraph

‘A transgender couple who claim local villagers subjected them to a campaign of harassment won damages from the council after defamatory comments were published on its website.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 8th February 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Theresa May feared creating police commissioner ‘monster’ – BBC News

Posted February 5th, 2016 in crime, elections, local government, news, police by sally

‘Home Secretary Theresa May has admitted fearing she had created a “monster” by setting up police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.’

Full story

BBC News, 4th February 2016

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Parent who won term-time holiday court case fined again – Daily Telegraph

Posted February 4th, 2016 in education, fines, holidays, local government, news by sally

‘ A man who successfully fought a prosecution for taking his kids out of school for a family holiday has been fined a second time by the same council. Jonathan Platt made headlines in October last year when he avoided prosecution for taking his six-year-old daughter to Disney World in term time, arguing that her unauthorised absence did not mean she failed to attend school on a regular basis.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 3rd February 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Something to Declare – Nearly Legal

Posted January 27th, 2016 in appeals, housing, local government, news, tribunals by sally

‘The power for a local authority to make an HMO declaration under s255, Housing Act 2004 is not commonly used. This power arises where a property appears to be an HMO in all respects save that it is not being used solely as an HMO. In that case the property will not fulfil the tests for an HMO under s254 of the Act but can be declared to be an HMO by the local authority of they reasonably believe that the property has “significant use” as an HMO. The declaration as an HMO can be appealed to the FTT (and from there to the UT) and that appeal operated by way of a re-hearing of that decision.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 27th January 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

District council defeats judicial review challenge over neighbourhood plan – Local Government Lawyer

Posted January 26th, 2016 in judicial review, local government, news, planning, referendums by sally

‘Chichester District Council has successfully defended a judicial review challenge to a neighbourhood plan.’
Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 26th January 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Councils pay out over £100million in compensation claims in just two years – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 21st, 2016 in compensation, local government, news, roads by sally

‘New research shows councils in Britain paid out thousands of pounds because of potholes, accidents and other workplace related grievances between 2013 and 2015.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 21st January 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Councils call for online judicial approval of access to communications data – Local Government Lawyer

‘Councils should be able to apply for and be granted magistrates’ approval electronically for access to communications data, the Local Government Association and trading standards organisations have said.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 11th January 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Landlords in England get ready for right to rent – Home Office

‘Landlords in England are being reminded that there is less than a month to go before “right to rent” rules go live.’

Full press release

Home Office, 8th January 2016

Source: www.gov.uk/home-office

Family judge criticised for not naming council that breached father’s rights – The Guardian

‘A family court judge has come under fire after refusing to name a council that violated a man’s parental rights by taking his four-year-old daughter into care without a proper investigation.’

Full story

The Guardian, 10th January 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Organisations should learn lessons on outsourcing from BT Cornwall case, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

‘Both customers and suppliers can learn lessons on outsourcing from a recent dispute ruled on by the High Court in London.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 7th January 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

Court of Appeal: immigration age assessments and Merton – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Two recent Court of Appeal cases, heard together, have considered the legality of the immigration detention of those who are, or possibly are, minors. Such cases involve local authority age assessments, which are to be carried out according to the guidance set out in Merton [2003] EWHC 1689 (Admin).’

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 6th January 2016

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Regina (Barda) v Mayor of London (on behalf of the Greater London Authority) – WLR Daily

Regina (Barda) v Mayor of London (on behalf of the Greater London Authority) [2015] EWHC 3584 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 548

‘The place, manner and form of a protest may be important in determining whether there has been an infringement of a protester’s rights to freedom of expression and assembly, but were not necessarily so.’

WLR Daily, 18th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina (Sienkiewicz) v South Somerset District Council – WLR Daily

Regina (Sienkiewicz) v South Somerset District Council [2015] EWHC 3704 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 553

‘The defendant local planning authority did not have a duty to give reasons for distinguishing other relevant planning decisions which were said to be inconsistent with its present decision to grant planning permission for a development.’

WLR Daily, 17th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Council wins Planning Court battle over former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Local Government Lawyer

Posted January 5th, 2016 in local government, news, planning by sally

‘A High Court judge has dismissed a judicial review challenge to a council’s grant of planning permission for a change of use to the house where Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 4th January 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

You don’t know what you’re doing – Nearly Legal

Posted January 5th, 2016 in bills, local government, London, news by sally

‘January 5, 2016, sees the Housing and Planning Bill return to the House of Commons for the Report stage (if you want to read about how the Committee stage went, the excellent House of Commons library analysis is here and our comments are here).’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 4th January 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Discretion, lip service and s188(3) – Nearly Legal

Posted December 21st, 2015 in homelessness, housing, judicial review, local government, news by sally

‘We’re very late with this one for reasons which are no doubt entirely reasonable, but currently escape me. A judicial review of a refusal (or repeated refusal) to provide interim accommodation pending s.202 review.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 19th December 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Borough council uses ASB and planning laws to secure traveller injunction – Local Government Lawyer

Posted December 18th, 2015 in injunctions, local government, news, planning, travellers by sally

‘Blackpool Council has secured a High Court injunction – pursuant to Section 1 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 and Section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – stopping 13 named travellers from setting up unauthorised encampments in the borough. The council said it was believed to be the first time in the country that a local authority had used the 2014 Act along with Section 187B of the TCPA to secure an injunction against illegal travellers.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 17th December 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Librarians take legal battle against library closures to government – The Guardian

Posted December 17th, 2015 in duty of care, human rights, libraries, local government, news by sally

‘Department for Culture, Media and Sport challenged over its failure to carry out legal duty of providing quality public library services.’

Full story

The Guardian, 17th December 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Distinctive Properties (Ascot) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another – WLR Daily

Posted December 14th, 2015 in appeals, environmental protection, law reports, local government, planning, trees by sally

Distinctive Properties (Ascot) Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another [2015] EWCA Civ 1250; [2015] WLR (D) 510

‘A landowner who wished to challenge a local planning authority’s tree replacement notice on the grounds that the number of trees which the notice required him to replace was greater than the number of trees which he had removed from the land, bore the burden of proving his case by sufficient evidence.’

WLR Daily, 8th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Bonsall v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another; Jackson v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another – WLR Daily

Bonsall v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another; Jackson v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and another [2015] EWCA Civ 1246; [2015] WLR (D) 514

‘The time limits for enforcement action in respect of breaches of planning control prescribed by section 171B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 did not apply where there had been positive deception designed to avoid enforcement action within those time limits. The position had not been affected by the enactment of sections 171BA to 171BC into the 1990 Act, which enabled a local planning authority, in a case of deliberate concealment, to apply to the magistrates’ court for a planning enforcement order (“PEO”) permitting enforcement action outside the time limits in section 171B.’

WLR Daily, 8th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk