Family judge criticised for not naming council that breached father’s rights – The Guardian

‘A family court judge has come under fire after refusing to name a council that violated a man’s parental rights by taking his four-year-old daughter into care without a proper investigation.’

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The Guardian, 10th January 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Organisations should learn lessons on outsourcing from BT Cornwall case, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

‘Both customers and suppliers can learn lessons on outsourcing from a recent dispute ruled on by the High Court in London.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 7th January 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

Court of Appeal: immigration age assessments and Merton – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Two recent Court of Appeal cases, heard together, have considered the legality of the immigration detention of those who are, or possibly are, minors. Such cases involve local authority age assessments, which are to be carried out according to the guidance set out in Merton [2003] EWHC 1689 (Admin).’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 6th January 2016

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Regina (Barda) v Mayor of London (on behalf of the Greater London Authority) – WLR Daily

Regina (Barda) v Mayor of London (on behalf of the Greater London Authority) [2015] EWHC 3584 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 548

‘The place, manner and form of a protest may be important in determining whether there has been an infringement of a protester’s rights to freedom of expression and assembly, but were not necessarily so.’

WLR Daily, 18th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.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

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.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 4th January 2016

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

You don’t know what you’re doing – Nearly Legal

Posted January 5th, 2016 in bills, local government, London, news by sally

‘January 5, 2016, sees the Housing and Planning Bill return to the House of Commons for the Report stage (if you want to read about how the Committee stage went, the excellent House of Commons library analysis is here and our comments are here).’

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Nearly Legal, 4th January 2016

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Discretion, lip service and s188(3) – Nearly Legal

Posted December 21st, 2015 in homelessness, housing, judicial review, local government, news by sally

‘We’re very late with this one for reasons which are no doubt entirely reasonable, but currently escape me. A judicial review of a refusal (or repeated refusal) to provide interim accommodation pending s.202 review.’

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Nearly Legal, 19th December 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.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 tracey

‘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.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 17th December 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Librarians take legal battle against library closures to government – The Guardian

Posted December 17th, 2015 in duty of care, human rights, libraries, local government, news by tracey

‘Department for Culture, Media and Sport challenged over its failure to carry out legal duty of providing quality public library services.’

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The Guardian, 17th December 2015

Source: www.guardian.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

Disrepair miscellany: Good, bad and ugly – Nearly Legal

Posted December 14th, 2015 in appeals, damages, housing, landlord & tenant, local government, news, repairs by sally

‘Perhaps illustrating the need for the Court of Appeal to deliver the judgment in Moorjani (see preceding post), the December 2015 issue of Legal Action has Beatrice Prevatt’s excellent annual “housing repairs update”. We have covered many of the cases noted in the update already, but there are some county court cases unreported elsewhere, remarkably this time including some Councils taking cases to trial. As ever, our thanks to Beatrice Prevatt and Legal Action.’

Full story

Nearly Legal, 13th December 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Council tenants lose lifetime right to live in property – The Guardian

Posted December 10th, 2015 in bills, housing, landlord & tenant, leases, local government, news, time limits by sally

‘People will no longer have the right to live in their council home for life in future after ministers moved to impose a five-year limit on new tenancies.’

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The Guardian, 9th December 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

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.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 9th December 2015

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Austerity and Public Law: Alexander Latham: Defending Rights in the Face of Austerity: Is the Supreme Court Calling Time on Social Housing Managerialism? – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘In cases involving social housing, English courts have traditionally taken what we might call a “managerial” approach: their starting-point for analysis has not been the tenant or applicant for housing as a rights-holder, but the need of local authorities to distribute their scarce resources effectively. In Burrows v Brent LBC [1996] 1 WLR 1448, for example, where a tenant who was permitted to remain after a possession order was held not to have been impliedly granted a new tenancy, Lord Browne-Wilkinson said that “housing authorities try to conduct their housing functions as humane and reasonable landlords” (at 1455). The tenant might be forgiven for wondering why this should count against him, but clearly the implication is that as ‘humane and reasonable landlords’ local authorities should be left to manage their housing stock with as little interference from the courts as possible. More recently this attitude led to the courts’ extreme reluctance to enable a public sector tenant to rely on article 8 ECHR in possession proceedings. When the Supreme Court finally acceded to pressure from Strasbourg, it nevertheless drew the teeth from the human rights defence by agreeing with the Secretary of State’s submission that “a local authority’s aim in wanting possession should be a ‘given’ ” (Manchester CC v Pinnock [2011] UKSC 6, per Lord Neuberger at [53]), so that “there will be no need, in the overwhelming majority of cases, for the local authority to explain and justify its reasons for seeking a possession order” (Hounslow LBC v Powell [2011] UKSC 8, per Lord Hope at [37]). The local authority is simply assumed to be acting in a way which benefits the general welfare; this assumption is then taken to justify the effect of its actions on individuals in all but the most extreme of cases.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th December 2015

Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org

Unlawful seizure of a table and other bits – Nearly Legal

Posted December 7th, 2015 in appeals, budgets, housing, legal aid, local government, news, trespass by sally

‘On 5 December, a Newham Council officer, together with police, seized a table from the regular Saturday street campaign of Focus E15 – the housing rights protest group. The seizure was stated to be under London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003.’

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Nearly Legal, 6th December 2015

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Acts and Omissions of Returning Officer – Local Government Law

Posted December 3rd, 2015 in elections, local government, news by tracey

‘The two issues raised by the Local Government Election Petition in Baxter v Fear [2015] EWHC 3136 (QB) were described by the Court as “important and novel”.’

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Local Government Law, 3rd December 2015

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

Ownership Rights of a Highway Authority – Local Government Law

Posted December 3rd, 2015 in local government, London, news, roads by tracey

‘What one might call the “normal” or “traditional” ownership rights of a highway authority lay at the heart of the dispute in Southwark LBC v Transport for London [2015] EWHC 3448 (Ch).’

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Local Government Law, 3rd December 2015

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

Section 20 Children Act 1989: Consent, Not Coercion – Issue or be Damned – Family Law Week

‘Jacqui Gilliatt, barrister, and Amy Slingo, pupil, both of Four Brick Court, set out lessons to be learned from the recent judgments concerning section 20.’

Full story

Family Law Week, 24th November 2015

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk