County council defends High Court challenge to cut to personal budget – Local Government Lawyer

Posted March 2nd, 2017 in budgets, carers, disabled persons, local government, news, social services by sally

‘A county council has defended a High Court challenge to its decisions to reduce a severely disabled man’s personal budget and revise his care and support plan.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 28th February 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Lawyer criticises child abuse inquiry for not safeguarding evidence – The Guardian

‘The national child abuse inquiry has been criticised by a prominent lawyer representing victims for failing to seize potentially vital caches of evidence before they are destroyed.’

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The Guardian, 2nd March 2017

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Perverse Incentives” – Nearly Legal

Posted February 28th, 2017 in housing, human rights, landlord & tenant, local government, news by tracey

‘Osman, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Harrow (2017) EWHC 274 (Admin). A challenge to Harrow’s allocation policy, specifically on the “downgrading” of allocation priority for overcrowded households in PRS accommodation, while existing Harrow tenants kept the higher priority for overcrowding on a transfer application.’

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Nearly Legal, 26th February 2017

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Southwark council fined £570,000 over fatal tower block fire – The Guardian

Posted February 28th, 2017 in costs, fines, fire, health & safety, housing, local government, news by tracey

‘The London fire brigade has said it hopes “lessons are learned” after a council was fined £570,000 over safety failings at a 14-storey block of flats where six people died in a fire.’

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The Guardian, 28th February 2017

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

HRA Claims and Concurrent Care Proceedings: Third Party Costs Orders, Statutory Charge Guidance and an Invitation to the Lord Chancellor – Family Law Week

‘Ben Mansfield, barrister of The 36 Group, examines the judgment of Mr Justice Keehan in H (A Minor) v Northamptonshire County Council and the Legal Aid Agency [2017] EWHC 282 (Fam).’

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Family Law Week, 23rd February 2017

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

London borough demands greater powers over “lawless” shisha cafes – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 23rd, 2017 in drug abuse, licensed premises, local government, news, noise, smoking by sally

‘Local authorities must be given more powers to shut down unregulated shisha cafes as loopholes in Government legislation allow venues to reopen “virtually overnight”, Brent Council has said.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 22nd February 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Roadside Trees – Local Government Law

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in accidents, local government, negligence, news, trees by sally

‘In Cavanagh v Witley Parish Council, Queen’s Bench Judgment on 14 February 2017, the Parish Council was found liable in negligence when a large mature lime tree on its land, with severe and extensive decay in the root system extending into the base of the trunk, fell across a road and onto a bus, causing the driver severe injury. It was a busy public road. The tree, which leant towards the road, and was over 20 metres high, was in a high risk position alongside the road, albeit, on cursory observation, in a healthy condition. It required regular inspection by a competent arboriculturalist. The Council’s three-yearly inspection policy with regard to its tree stock was “inadequate”. Inspection should have been more frequent. The Council had been advised to do the survey every two years. The local Borough Council had at the relevant time been operating a one-year inspection in respect of trees in high-risk areas, including apparently healthy trees.’

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Local Government Law, 21st February 2017

Source: www.11kbw.com/blogs/local-government-law

Formula Milk and Human Rights: Council That Removed Baby Pays Damages – RightsInfo

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in compensation, damages, families, human rights, local government, news by sally

‘A local council who took a newborn baby boy from his parents violated their human right to family life and a fair trial, a judge has ruled.’

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RightsInfo, 17th February 2017

Source: www.rightsinfo.org

Parental consent not required for section 20 accommodation – Community Care Blog

‘Is it a breach of a local authority’s duty under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, and article 8 of the ECHR, to keep children in foster care without their parent’s consent? This was the question answered by the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Hackney v Williams [2017] EWCA Civ 26.’

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Community Care Blog, 9th February 2017

Source: www.communitycare11kbw.com

How is the PLO working? What is its impact on court process and outcome? – Family Law Week

‘The last five years have brought important reforms to care proceedings. The Judiciary made proposals for modernising family justice with a focus on strong judicial leadership, judicial continuity and better case management.2 The Family Justice Review3 recommended that the duration of care proceedings should be limited to 26 weeks, that fewer experts should be instructed in proceedings and there should be more limited scrutiny of the care plan, with the court considering only the plan for permanency (care by the parents(s), placement in the extended family, long-term fostering, or adoption) and not matters such as services for the child and contact arrangements. The Review’s recommendations were enacted in the Children and Families Act 2014, supplemented by new procedural rules (the PLO 2014) and implemented on April 22, 2014. This date also marked the opening of the Family Court, replacing the triple jurisdiction of the Family Proceedings Court, the County Court and the High Court. ‘

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Family Law Week, 17th February 2017

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Thinking about reasons again – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in local government, news, planning, reasons by sally

‘There is, I am glad to say, an insistence these days in the Court of Appeal that the giving of proper reasons is a necessary part of what can be expected of a planning authority when it grants permission: see my post here for a case last year.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 21st February 2017

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Open Space – Local Government Law

Posted February 22nd, 2017 in local government, news, parks, sale of land by sally

‘One of the issues in Whitstable Society v Canterbury City Council [2017] EWHC 254 (Admin) was whether the notification and consultation proceedings required by Section 123(2A) in relation to open space land owned by a local authority ought to have been gone through in respect of the sale of land owned by the City Council. Dove J held not, notwithstanding that the land had been acquired for development as open space and had not been formally appropriated to any other use.’

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Local Government Law, 15th February 2017

Source: www.11kbw.com

Reasons – Local Government Law

Posted February 21st, 2017 in appeals, local government, news, planning, sport by sally

‘The appeal in Oakley v South Cambridgeshire District Council (2017) EWCA Civ 71 raised the issue whether, in the particular circumstances of the case, the Planning Committee of the South Cambridgeshire District Council ought to have given reasons for granting planning permission for the development by Cambridge City Football Club, a semi-professional club, of a football stadium capable of seating three thousand people. The proposed construction is in the outskirts of Sawston in Cambridgeshire, on land which is part of the Green Belt. The application for planning permission was not only for the erection of the ground, together with associated training and parking facilities, but also for the creation of a partially floodlit recreational ground which would be gifted to the Sawston Parish Council for community use.’

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Local Government Law, 17th February 2017

Source: www.11kbw.com/blogs/local-government-law

Waaler v Hounslow LBC – Arden Chambers

Posted February 21st, 2017 in appeals, leases, local government, news, service charges, tribunals by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has held that whether service charge costs are reasonably incurred, for the purposes of Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, s.19, is to be determined by reference to an objective standard of reasonableness rather than applying public law principles of rationality. A tribunal should not, however, impose its own decision where a landlord has adopted a course of action which led to a reasonable outcome, even if there was a cheaper outcome which was also reasonable.’

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Arden Chambers, 2nd February 2017

Source: www.ardenchambers.com

Family judge condemns 2,000-page bundle – Law Society’s Gazette

‘A family judge has expressed his disapproval at the ‘unwarranted expenditure’ in a case where a local authority breached Article 8 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights by taking an infant into care.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 17th February 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Appeal judges quash football stadium permission over failure to give reasons – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 17th, 2017 in local government, news, planning, reasons by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has quashed a council’s grant of planning permission for a new football stadium over the failure of its planning committee to give reasons for its decision.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 17th February 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Kirklees council breached parents’ human rights by removing baby – The Guardian

Posted February 17th, 2017 in care orders, human rights, local government, news, parental responsibility by sally

‘Social workers have been accused of breaching the human rights of a couple after their week-old baby was taken off them in hospital when the father praised “the benefits of formula milk”.’

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The Guardian, 16th February 2017

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judge finds council sold seafront land at undervalue but refuses to quash decision – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 16th, 2017 in consultations, local government, news, sale of land, ultra vires, valuation by sally

‘Canterbury City Council sold land on the seafront in Whitstable to a property developer for less than best consideration but the case was not appropriate for a quashing order, a High Court judge has ruled.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 15th February 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Unfit’ council home payouts and legal fees hit £35m in five years – BBC News

Posted February 14th, 2017 in compensation, fees, housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news by sally

‘Councils in England have paid out more than £35m in compensation and legal fees in the past five years to tenants living in “unfit” council homes.’

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BBC News, 14th February 2017

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Service charges, contracts, social housing and subsidies – Nearly Legal

Posted February 13th, 2017 in costs, landlord & tenant, leases, local government, news, service charges, tribunals by sally

‘An interesting question. To what extent, if at all, can leaseholders’ service charges be set at a level to ‘subsidise’ a shortfall as against actual maintenance costs in service charges recoverable from social tenants in flats provided under a section 106 agreement.’

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Nearly Legal, 12th February 2017

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk