‘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.’
RightsInfo, 17th February 2017
Source: www.rightsinfo.org
‘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. ‘
Family Law Week, 17th February 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘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.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 21st February 2017
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘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.’
Local Government Law, 15th February 2017
Source: www.11kbw.com
‘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.’
Local Government Law, 17th February 2017
‘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.’
Arden Chambers, 2nd February 2017
Source: www.ardenchambers.com
‘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.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 17th February 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘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.’
Local Government Lawyer, 17th February 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘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”.’
The Guardian, 16th February 2017
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘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.’
Local Government Lawyer, 15th February 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘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.’
BBC News, 14th February 2017
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘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.’
Nearly Legal, 12th February 2017
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has backed the decision of the London Borough of Barnet to vaccinate a looked after baby against the wishes of his mother.’
Local Government Lawyer, 7th February 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Government is to outline a series of tweaks to planning laws it says will help solve the housing shortage.’
The Independent, 7th February 2017
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Sharp v Leeds City Council [2017] EWCA Civ 33
‘The claimant alleged that an accident in which she sustained an injury had been caused by the failure of the local authority to maintain a footpath, in breach of its statutory duty. As the damages alleged were less than £25,000 or less, the claim fell within the purview of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employer’s Liability and Public Liability) Claims (“EL/PL Protocol”). The claimant commenced the claims process pursuant to the protocol by loading a claim notification form (“CNF”) via the online Portal process, alleging breach of statutory duty under the Highways Act 1980. The claim subsequently ceased to continue within the EL/PL Protocol and thereafter fell within the Pre-action Protocol for Personal Injury Claims (“the Personal Injury Protocol”), the claimant’s CNF being treated as a letter of claim. As the local authority failed to provide the required pre-action disclosure within the prescribed time pursuant to the Personal Injury Protocol, the claimant made a pre-action disclosure application to the County Court under section 52 of the County Courts Act 1984. The district judge awarded her the costs of the pre-action disclosure application, summarily assessing them on the standard basis at £1,250. He treated the fixed costs regime provided by Section IIIA of CPR Pt 45 as inapplicable to the costs of applications under section 52 in respect of claims which had started, but no longer continued, under the EL/PL Protocol. However, on appeal, a different judge concluded that the fixed costs regime did apply, and the costs payable were reduced to £305.’
WLR Daily, February 2017
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Cash-hungry councils are “all too often” rejecting out of hand drivers’ challenges to parking fines without even bothering to read them, according to a watchdog report.’
Daily Telegraph, 6th February 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘We saw the Upper Tribunal take a new approach to determining whether the costs of improvement works, passed on through the service charge, were reasonably incurred. The UT held that particular consideration should have been given to the views of the leaseholders, whether they could be done more cheaply and the financial circumstances of the leaseholders.’
Nearly Legal, 5th February 2017
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘An ex-council boss who forced teenagers to engage in sex acts to get grant payments has been jailed for 16 years.’
BBC News, 3rd February 2017
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Councils should be forced to fix serious potholes immediately the Court of Appeal has ruled, after judges found in favour of a jogger who hurt his ankle.’
Daily Telegraph, 2nd February 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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