Apr 14, 2021
A prosecution brought by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has seen a landlord and his management company ordered to pay more than £90,000 in fines and legal costs over safety failings.
Apr 14, 2021
Sefton Council has successfully prosecuted Britannia Hotels after a guest at one of its hotels fell through rusted iron railings, sustaining life-changing injuries.
Apr 14, 2021
The High Court will this week (14-15 April) hear a judicial review challenge over the volume of carbon emissions permitted and the exclusion of waste incinerators from the UK’s new emissions trading scheme.
Apr 14, 2021
National law firm Bevan Brittan has appointed property finance specialist Jessica Church as a partner.
Apr 14, 2021
Bevan Brittan has advised G15 housing association Catalyst Housing Group on its partnership with Rosebery Housing Association.
Apr 13, 2021
The legal department at Liverpool John Moores University is looking to use legal technology, potentially Artificial Intelligence (AI), for routine legal work in a bid to allow its legal team to focus on more complex matters.
Apr 12, 2021
Nine out of ten professionals think standalone supervision orders should continue to be an option in care proceedings, according to a survey by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NFJO).
Apr 12, 2021
A Family Court judge has issued a ruling on whether, within public law proceedings, there was any obligation on a local authority to assess members of the biological/birth family of the mother of the subject infant child, where the mother herself was adopted as a child and raised by adoptive…
Apr 12, 2021
Cornwall Council has selected eight law firms to a six-lot legal services framework worth an estimated £8m.
Apr 09, 2021
A mother's appeal of a decision by a family judge not to adjourn an imminent final hearing in care proceedings has been allowed in a "rare" case before the Court of Appeal.
Apr 09, 2021
Southampton City Council's religious education committee, the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), has agreed to retake a decision to block a humanist from becoming a full committee member following a threat of legal action.
Apr 08, 2021
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has issued guidance on the Housing Possession Mediation Service.
Apr 08, 2021
The Local Government Secretary, Robert Jenrick, has said the Government will support the High Court claim being brought by Lawyers in Local Government, the Association of Democratic Services Officers and Hertfordshire County Council over the ability of councils in England to hold remote meetings.
Apr 08, 2021
A report by a law firm has led to the resignation of a council leader over planning issues.
Apr 08, 2021
Transport for London has been granted the right to appeal against a High Court ruling that its traffic reduction policies were unlawful.
Apr 08, 2021
Hospitality industry figures in Wales are trying to crowdfund a legal challenge to the country’s policy on the reopening of venues as lockdown eases.
Apr 07, 2021
A High Court judge has likened the result of a trial of a lease dispute involving Wigan Borough Council to the outcome of rugby league and soccer matches.
Apr 07, 2021
A religious organisation has won a county court case against Blackpool Borough Council and its wholly-owned Blackpool Transport Services, which refused to advertise its rally on the sides of buses.
Apr 07, 2021
A local campaign group opposed to the London Borough of Hackney’s policy of closing streets to through traffic has been given leave for a judicial review at its third attempt.
Apr 07, 2021
Transport for Greater Manchester has appointed six law firms to a lot in its £88m Professional Services Framework covering legal services for major or complex projects.
Apr 07, 2021
Merseytravel has given notice of its plans to appoint a single law firm or ABS (alternative business structure) to act as its principal external legal advisors in relation to rail matters under a contract worth an estimated £750,000.
Apr 07, 2021
The Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government has acknowledged that the Government response to the Committee for Standards in Public Life’s January 2019 review, Local Government Ethical Standards, is “overdue” but has not given a date for its publication.
Apr 07, 2021
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is facing a legal challenge over the lawfulness of its consultation on the proposed National Strategy for Disabled People.
Apr 06, 2021
The Local Government Association has urged the Government to work closely with councils on any proposals for Covid-19 status certification.
Apr 06, 2021
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government is facing a potential legal challenge over the allocation of local authorities to different categories of the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund.
Apr 06, 2021
Local authorities may have missed out on an alternative supplier of pre-paid cards or products that were either cheaper or better suited to both their needs and the needs of those using such cards, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has said after provisionally finding that five companies engaged…
Apr 06, 2021
An extraordinary meeting of Torbay Council has unanimously appointed solicitor Anne-Marie Bond as the authority’s Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service on a permanent basis.
Apr 06, 2021
A campaign group has filed a request for an oral hearing after a High Court judge refused permission on the papers for a legal challenge over South Oxfordshire District Council’s decision to proceed with its Local Plan 2035.
Apr 06, 2021
Law firm Devonshires has promoted two lawyers to partner, taking the total number of partners at the firm to 43.
Apr 06, 2021
The Housing Ombudsman has predicted that the volume of enquiries and complaints the service receives will continue to rise in 2021/22, and that there will be a growing number of more complex complaints requiring investigation of a landlord’s actions in the light of Covid-19 alongside the complaint…
Apr 06, 2021
The Health and Care Professions Council has appointed two law firms to a legal services framework worth up to £6m over five years.
Apr 06, 2021
Law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised The Hyde Group on the formation of a strategic partnership with global investment firm M&G, which will lead to the development of £500m new sustainably designed affordable homes.
Apr 01, 2021
The Upper Tribunal has ruled that London Southend Airport should pay over £85,000 compensation to homeowners whose properties depreciated in value after a runway expansion increased noise in the area.
Apr 01, 2021
The City Solicitor at Liverpool City Council, Jeannette McLoughlin, is to retire from her post at the end of May, after 25 years at the local authority.
Apr 01, 2021
Law firm Winckworth Sherwood has promoted five lawyers to partner, effective from the beginning of April.
Mar 31, 2021
Norfolk County Council is seeking expressions of interest for a legal services contract worth an estimated £1.6m to support the in-house insurance team deliver its claims service.
Mar 31, 2021
39 Essex Chambers has bolstered its Public Law Group with the arrival of three new members from Kings Chambers with immediate effect.
Mar 31, 2021
Liverpool City Council’s former elected mayor is expected to take the authority to judicial review over its refusal to pay his legal costs following his arrest in December on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.
Mar 31, 2021
A disabled resident has won part of her housing case against the London Borough of Croydon but failed in a late bid to be made anonymous.
Mar 31, 2021
The High Court has ruled that Kent County Council must support and accommodate Sudanese refugee LYB as though he is a child until a full hearing can resolve his age.
Mar 31, 2021
The High Court has refused to allow a judicial review of an age assessment by Cardiff City Council.
Mar 31, 2021
Leaseholders have won a Court of Appeal case against the City of London Corporation over whether certain repairs to their homes are chargeable to them.
Mar 31, 2021
A hearing held online involving visually impaired litigants was not unfair – or if there was any such unfairness, it made no material difference, the Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber has found.
Mar 30, 2021
Former local authority lawyer Holly Littlewood has joined the Public Law team at Spire Barristers.
Mar 30, 2021
Eleven NHS trusts have abandoned plans to petition the Court of Appeal as part of a dispute with councils over the business rates they have to pay on hospitals.
Mar 30, 2021
Ministers who use messaging platforms that delete correspondence automatically have been threatened with legal action by a non-profit organisation over concerns about transparency and democratic accountability in government.
Mar 29, 2021
The average time for a care or supervision case to reach first disposal was 38 weeks in 2020, up 5 weeks from 2019, it has emerged.
Mar 29, 2021
A defendant who admitted fraud under the Right to Buy scheme has been ordered to pay back more than £90,000.
Mar 29, 2021
The Welsh Government has issued guidance for local authorities to ensure taxi and private hire vehicle operators and drivers meet licensing requirements.
Mar 29, 2021
A judge has given permission to apply for judicial review of a decision of a private care home provider to cases providing the relevant care services, it has been reported.
Mar 29, 2021
The Law Society has agreed to provide the secretariat for the new Law Council of Wales and to facilitate its establishment.
Mar 29, 2021
The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, has asked Lord Justice Baker to examine how the most efficient return to court can be achieved over the coming months.
Mar 29, 2021
The Housing Ombudsman has appointed a former Chief Legal Ombudsman as its first Independent Reviewer of Service Complaints.
Mar 29, 2021
The Housing Ombudsman has published its new ‘systemic framework’ setting out how it will look beyond individual disputes to identify key issues that impact on residents and landlords’ services.
Mar 26, 2021
The Supreme Court has given a former member of Braintree District Council permission to appeal in a case concerning the lawfulness of the voter identification pilot schemes in the 2019 local elections.
Mar 26, 2021
The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal over the Court of Appeal’s rejection of a claim that a 5% reduction in one element of a London borough’s SEND provision was unlawful because the council was in breach of a duty to consult under s.27 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
Mar 26, 2021
Emergency legislation regarding virtual council meetings in England will not be extended, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has confirmed.
Mar 26, 2021
A parish council has raised more than £12,000 towards a legal challenge over Durham Council’s decision to give a developer permission for a 72-home development.
Mar 26, 2021
The Court of Appeal has agreed to hear a dispute over whether a developer's obligation to provide an environmental statement describing the likely significant effects of a development, both direct and indirect, requires an assessment of the greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions resulting from the use of…
Mar 25, 2021
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by a journalist after she was refused access to documents held by Southampton City Council in relation to care and placement proceedings.
Mar 25, 2021
The Court of Appeal has ruled on two points of law that arose over a case where an applicant first wished to establish a local connection with Milton Keynes but later did not.
Mar 25, 2021
The Government is to bring forward plans to introduce a new National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) and consult on creating a fast-track statutory appeal right against age assessment decisions it makes “to avoid excessive judicial review litigation”, the Home Office has said.
Mar 25, 2021
The High Court has quashed planning permission given seven years ago in error which would have allowed the huge expansion of a caravan site.
Mar 25, 2021
Calderdale Borough Council has won a High Court challenge to a decision by a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to allow a large illuminated digital advertisement on a site in Elland.
Mar 25, 2021
Braintree District Council has failed to get an enforcement notice reinstated by the High Court over the residual occupation of caravans.
Mar 25, 2021
The inspectors whose Best Value inspection report led to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, deciding this week to send commissioners into Liverpool City Council, have called for the local authority’s proposed recovery plan to build the prominence…
Mar 24, 2021
LLG (Lawyers in Local Government) and ADSO (the Association of Democratic Services Officers) have – along with Hertfordshire County Council – been given permission to expedite their claim for a declaration in the High Court which will provide certainty for local authorities on whether they can…
Mar 24, 2021
MPs will vote tomorrow (25 March) on the Government's ‘roadmap regulations’ setting out its proposed next phase of ‘easements’.
Mar 24, 2021
The Ministry of Justice "faces significant risks across the full range of its services, without a clear sense of prioritisation" and huge backlogs that have built up are causing "unacceptably long waiting times for people to access justice", the Public Accounts Committee has said.
Mar 24, 2021
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has launched a new inquiry to examine the Government’s approach to permitted development rights (PDR).
Mar 23, 2021
Lawyers in Local Government is calling for local authority legal teams to be involved in a remote national work experience program in July.
Mar 23, 2021
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) will from this week offer voluntary on-site rapid testing at four courts to people who attend scheduled hearings and are not showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Mar 23, 2021
An elderly woman was left to die alone by Surrey care home staff while her daughter was waiting in a nearby room, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found.
Mar 22, 2021
LLG has drawn up, in consultation with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a memorandum on exemption for authorisation under section 15 of the Legal Services Act 2007.
Mar 22, 2021
The monitoring officer at Ealing Council has advised the chair of its planning committee that a decision taken at a meeting on 10 March 2021, which saw an "unexpected problem" with the broadcast stream, cannot stand.
Mar 22, 2021
A pub and its landlord have been fined more than £16,000 for allowing cooking fat and oil to enter a town’s sewer network, in a landmark case brought by Thames Water.
Mar 22, 2021
Law firms Trowers & Hamlins and Devonshires have advised on what is believed to be the affordable housing sector's largest stock swap so far.
Mar 22, 2021
A leading social landlord in the Midlands has appointed seven law firms to a £2.2m panel for property and development legal advice.
Mar 22, 2021
Councils in England are to be given more freedom on how they spend the money received from homes sold through Right to Buy, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has said.
Mar 19, 2021
A High Court Master has thrown out a £600,000-plus damages claim for personal injury and loss of earnings brought by a former employee of the London Borough of Haringey after she was assaulted by a service user with learning difficulties in a facility operated by the council.
Mar 19, 2021
The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on giving the courts the power to suspend quashing orders, removing so-called ‘Cart judgments’, and introducing a series of changes to civil procedure rules, following recommendations by the Independent Review of Administrative Law (IRAL) led by…
Mar 19, 2021
The Supreme Court has dismissed appeals to pay two care workers the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for hours in which they are required to sleep on-site during overnight shifts.
Mar 18, 2021
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has published a guide on handling complaints under the children's services statutory complaints process in order to help councils avoid the “pitfalls” seen in previous investigations.
Mar 18, 2021
The claim brought by ADSO (the Association of Democratic Services Officers) and LLG (Lawyers in Local Government), along with Hertfordshire County Council, to allow for the continuation of local authority remote meetings beyond the 6th May 2021 has been issued in the High Court.
Mar 18, 2021
A café has been ordered to close by Manchester Magistrates' Court for three months and had its licence revoked by Manchester City Council for a similar length of time after its owners were found to be serving customers in breach of Covid-safety rules.
Mar 18, 2021
The High Court has rejected all the grounds of appeal argued by a parish council that wanted to prevent planning permission being given for an urban extension to Newton Abbot.
Mar 18, 2021
The Bureau for Investigative Journalism (BIJ) has won an interim ruling in a First Tier Tribunal case to require Thurrock Council to disclose information about its investments in solar farms, it has been reported.
Mar 18, 2021
An Administrative Court judge should have decided a point of statutory construction about the timetable for producing amended education health and care (EHC) plans instead of declining to do so since it was academic, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
Mar 18, 2021
A 12-year-old Muslim girl has been told she can continue to wear a long skirt for religious reasons after the settlement of a dispute with Uxbridge High School.
Mar 18, 2021
Eight people who committed repeated breaches of planning permission and court orders while trying to establish a site in Basildon have had their sentences confirmed after failing to convince the Court of Appeal that their punishments were too severe.
