New planning guidance emphasises importance of housing evidence to neighbourhood planning – OUT-LAW.com

Posted February 17th, 2016 in codes of practice, evidence, housing, local government, news, planning by michael

‘New paragraphs were added to the UK government’s National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) last week clarifying that, in areas with a neighbourhood plan in place but without a five year supply of deliverable housing sites, neighbourhood plan policies relating to housing should not be considered up-to-date.’

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 16 February 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

London taxi drivers lose high court challenge to cycle superhighway – The Guardian

Posted February 11th, 2016 in bicycles, London, news, planning, roads, taxis by sally

‘Cabbies have lost a high court challenge that could have disrupted completion of London’s £47m flagship east-west cycle superhighway.’

Full story

The Guardian, 10th February 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

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

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

Diplomats use Vienna Convention to fight London basement digout – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 11th, 2016 in appeals, diplomats, housing, news, planning, treaties by sally

‘An argument over an extension plan next door to the French embassy in London has gone global as an unlikely alliance of diplomats has formed, citing the 1961 Vienna Convention, in a bid to kill it off.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 9th January 2016

Source: www.telegraph.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

Housing bill will do nothing for many of those in need of a decent home – The Guardian

Posted January 5th, 2016 in bills, housing, news, planning by sally

‘New housing legislation fails to address the problem of affordable rented housing, and there may be little that we in the House of Lords can do to improve it.’

Full story

The Guardian, 5th January 2016

Source: www.guardian.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

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

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

Automatic Permission for Housing on Brownfield Sites – No. 5 Chambers

Posted December 9th, 2015 in bills, housing, news, planning by sally

‘The National Planning Policy Framework’s paragraph 17 lists 12 core land-use planning principles, including “encourage the effective use of land by reusing land that has been previously developed (brownfield land), provided that it is not of high environmental value”. Within Green Belts its paragraph 89 lists six circumstances where the construction of new buildings is not inappropriate, including “… the partial or complete redevelopment of previously developed sites (brownfield land), whether redundant or in continuing use (excluding temporary buildings), which would not have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt and the purpose of including land within it than the existing development”. Its paragraph 111 states, “Planning policies and decisions should encourage the effective use of land by re-using land that has been previously developed (brownfield land), provided that it is not of high environmental value. Local planning authorities may continue to consider the case for setting a locally appropriate target for the use of brownfield land.”’

Full story

No. 5 Chambers, 1st December 2015

Source: www.no5.com

Dudley Muslim Association v Dudley MBC – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted December 9th, 2015 in appeals, contracts, enforcement, estoppel, local government, news, planning, sale of land by sally

‘Amanda Eilledge explores the availability of public law defences and promissory estoppel in the context of a contract for the sale of land following the decision in Dudley Muslim Association v Dudley MBC [2015] EWCA Civ 1123.’

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 9th December 2015

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Ombudsman accuses council of failing to apply correct law in planning case – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 27th, 2015 in listed buildings, local government, news, planning by sally

‘The Local Government Ombudsman has urged a borough council to provide conservation training for all its planning officers after accusing the authority of failing to apply the correct law and guidance.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 26th November 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Removal of consultation options over housing estate “unlawful”: High Court – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 25th, 2015 in consultations, housing, local government, news, planning, public interest by sally

‘A High Court judge has ruled that a London borough’s decision to stop consulting on refurbishment options for a housing estate and focus on regeneration alone was unlawful.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 24th November 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Tarmac wins Court of Appeal battle over quarry restoration and waste – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 19th, 2015 in appeals, construction industry, EC law, news, planning, waste by sally

‘Tarmac has won a Court of Appeal battle over whether the use of waste in restoring a quarry was waste disposal or waste recovery.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 18th November 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Tear down house or go to prison, high court tells farmer in planning dispute – The Guardian

Posted November 10th, 2015 in contempt of court, news, planning, sentencing, suspended sentences by sally

‘A farmer has been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for failing to tear down a mock Tudor castle that he built.

Full story

The Guardian, 9th November 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Professional Negligence: Let the Client Decide what matters – 36 Bedford Row Property Blog

‘The High Court has given a reminder of the important qualification to the general principle that a lawyer, or licensed conveyancer, is not obliged to undertake investigations that are not expressly or impliedly requested by the client. The principle is subject to the qualification that: if in fact a solicitor acquires information that may be of importance to a client; then it is the duty of the solicitor to bring that information to the attention of the client. It is the client who decides whether the information is important; the lawyer should not presume to make that decision. Failing to consider information, to advise the client or even pass on such information to the client can be costly. It is safer to communicate too much rather than too little.’

Full story

36 Bedford Row Property Blog, 27th October 2015

Source: www.36property.co.uk

Roseacre Wood fracking row: high court gives go-ahead for judicial review – The Guardian

‘Campaigners in one of the UK’s key fracking battlegrounds have been given the green light to bring a judicial review of Lancashire county council’s decision to allow seismic monitoring equipment at proposed drilling sites.’

Full story

The Guardian, 23rd October 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

High Court judge quashes planning permission over appearance of bias – Local Government Lawyer

Posted October 15th, 2015 in appeals, bias, housing, local government, news, planning by sally

‘A High Court judge has quashed the grant of outline planning permission for a residential development in Wiltshire over the appearance of bias.’
Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 13th October 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk