“With power and responsibility, thus spake Parliament, comes the obligation to take a proactive stance in the advancement of equality and elimination of discrimination. Accordingly a public authority can face legal challenges in the exercise of its functions not just for its acts but for its omissions. Enter the public sector equality duty.”
Full story (PDF)
Cloisters, March 2012
Source: www.cloisters.com
“A council faces having to pay out tens of thousands of pounds after a park warden fell and injured himself while putting up health and safety signs.”
Daily Telegraph, 9th March 2012
Source: www.telegrph.co.uk
“It is ‘extremely surprising’ that some local authorities accept cheques from developers making planning applications to compensate for the effect of a development on green space, according to a report of the ruling.”
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd March 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“‘Localism’ is not a concept against which planning applications can be measured, the High Court has said in a decision which has quashed a decision letter which had refused planning application for a development.”
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd March 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“The Court of Appeal has allowed a 584 home development in Blackpool to go ahead, dismissing an appeal against permission for the development. ”
OUT-LAW.com, 28th February 2012
Source: www.out-law.com
“Local authorities in England will only get an outstanding rating for adoption in future if they place children within 12 months, Ofsted says.”
BBC News, 27th February 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Campaigners fighting town and city expansion in Norfolk have won a High Court battle with council planners. The group Snub (Stop Norwich Urbanisation), took action against Broadland District, South Norfolk District and Norwich City councils. The judge ruled that plans for 33,000 properties and the new Norwich northern distributor road had not been properly assessed.”
BBC News, 24th February 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council has been ordered to disclose information relating to the professional interests of senior council members following a ruling by the Information Rights Tribunal.”
OUT-LAW.com, 24th February 2012
Source: www.outlaw.com
“A Christian woman who claimed she was forced to leave her job because she was made to work on Sundays, has lost her case against Merton Council.”
BBC News, 23rd February 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Torfaen County Borough Council v Douglas Willis Ltd [2012] EWHC 296 (Admin); [2012] WLR (D) 37
“In order to found a conviction for an offence under regulation 44(1)(d) of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, a prosecuting authority was required to prove, to the criminal standard: (i) that the food, at the point that it was ready for delivery to the ultimate consumer or caterer, was ‘highly perishable’ and so required then and thereafter to be labelled with a ‘use by’ date; (ii) that the defendant was, at the time of the alleged offence, selling the food within the extended definition contained within regulation 2; and (iii) that, at the time of the alleged offence, the date on the ‘use by’ label had passed. The subsequent freezing of food requiring and given a ‘use by’ label would not cause that label to cease to have effect.”
WLR Daily, 20th February 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“This morning (16th February 2012) the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the case of Simcoe v Jacuzzi Group UK PLC. The case is, in effect, the appeal against HHJ Stewart QC’s judgment in Gray v Toner (Liverpool County Court, 11th November 2010) and provides the answer to the questions which have bedevilled detailed assessments for the last 18 months or so – from what date does interest on costs usually run and does the fact the Claimant was on a CFA provide a reason to not award interest until the costs are assessed”
Full story (PDF)
4 New Square, 16th February 2012
Source: www.4newsquare.com
“The new regime for upholding standards of conduct by local authority members is in place but not yet in full force. It represents a compromise between localism and centralism. Local authorities cannot decide whether to enforce standards of conduct; they must do so. But, apart from certain minimum standards, local authorities can decide what standards to set. Enforcement will be polarised: central state intervention will be through the criminal law. Enforcement will otherwise be by local authorities themselves. There will be no other civil enforcement machinery, except for the possibility of judicial review.”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 16th February 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
“Local referendums were one of the flag ship provisions within the Localism Bill, and provided a unique example of the localism proposed in the legislation. But they were also a controversial provision, whether because they raised the possibility of a whole new series of local crank’s charters, or simply because they were an expensive luxury beyond the reach of local government in austere times. And now they are gone. Withdrawn from the Bill, following an amendment proposed by two Liberal Democrat peers.”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 16th February 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
“This paper is about the general power of competence (‘the new power’). The new power is conferred by section 1 of the Localism Act 2011 (‘the Act’).”
Full story (PDF)
11 KBW, 16th February 2012
Source: www.11kbw.com
“Until this week, perhaps, Bideford owed its greatest claim to fame to its 1682 witch trials when three women were sent to the gallows in the reputed last hangings for witchcraft in England.”
The Guardian, 17th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“In 1947, the Labour Government nationalized land development value. The recent outgoing Labour Government nationalized development hope value through its CIL Regulations which came into force in April 2010 just before its May defeat.”
Full story (PDF)
Thirty Nine Essex Street, February 2012
Source: www.39essex.com
“Bideford Town Council is a parish council in Devon. Each month it holds full council meetings in public. At the start of each meeting there are communal prayers. Prayers are deliberately placed before apologies so that those who do not wish to attend are not marked as absent and can attend after prayers. The prayers are always Christian, led by a Minister from one of the town’s eight Christian Churches. A motion to end prayers was proposed by Mr Bone, a member of the council, and twice defeated, once by 9 votes to 6.”
Hardwicke Chambers, 10th February 2012
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
“The ‘great earthquake’ that ‘rent the whole neighbourhood’ was recorded by Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son when a railway first cut through Camden in the early 19th century. Nearly 200 years on, Camden’s residents are stepping up their fight against what they fear will be a smaller, but similar, seismic shock from High Speed 2, the rail scheme given the go-ahead last month.”
The Guardian, 16th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“This paper deals with the present state of the law concerning the Public Sector Quality Duty (‘the PSED’) and how public bodies are required to act in order to comply with the duty.”
No. 5 Chambers, 6th February 2012
Source: www.no5.com
“A landlord had a right of appeal under paragraph 6(3) of Schedule 7 to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 as a ‘person affected’ by a housing benefit decision in respect of its tenant only in the distinct cases provided for in subordinate legislation.”
WLR Daily, 9th February 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
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