“Purdah” is not a rule of law. It does not override obligations to comply with statutory duties. So held Garnham J in R (ClientEarth) v SoS for Environment, etc, a case concerned with the 8 June 2017 General Election announced on 18 April 2017. On 20 April 2017 the Cabinet Office published Guidance in respect of that Election which came into force at midnight on 21 April 2017. This Guidance followed Cabinet Office Guidance published on 12 April 2017 in respect of the local government elections which were to take place on 4 May 2017. That Guidance indicated a “period of sensitivity”, or “purdah”, covering a three week period from 13 April 2017 preceding those elections. Read more »
Section 222
May 10th, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Judicial Control, Liability and LitigationIn R v AB and others (2017) EWHC Crim 534 the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has held that a local authority did not have power under Section 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 to bring a prosecution for defrauding the Legal Aid Agency (“the LAA”). The Fraud Investigation Department (“FID”) of the authority had carried out an investigation for the LAA. No issue was raised as to the power to investigate. The Court said:- Read more »
Civil Rights and Obligations
May 10th, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Human Rights and Public Sector Equality DutyIn Poshteh v Kensington and Chelsea RLBC (2017) UKSC 36 the appellant arrived in the UK in 2003 as a refugee from Iran, where she had been subject to imprisonment and torture. She gained indefinite leave to remain in 2009, the year in which she applied to the respondent council for accommodation as a homeless person. In November 2012 the respondent offered the appellant accommodation in Norland Road, London in a first floor, two-bedroom flat. The appellant’s concerns about the physical features of the property (including the small size of the windows) were first raised in correspondence of 29 November 2012, including a letter from the appellant’s therapist and her GP, and in a solicitors’ letter of 30 August 2013. The appellant ultimately refused this “final offer” of permanent accommodation at the property on the basis that it had features which reminded her of her prison in Iran and which would exacerbate her post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety attacks and other conditions. Read more »
Planning and Environmental
May 10th, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Planning and EnvironmentalThe unsuccessful appeals by the Councils concerned to the Supreme Court in Suffolk Coastal DC v Hopkins Homes Ltd and Richborough Estates Partnership LLP v Cheshire East BC (2017) UKSC 37 related to the proper interpretation of paragraph 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework (“NPPF”), as well as the NPPF’s relationship with the statutory development plan. Part 2 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires local planning authorities to prepare a “development plan”. In preparing “local development documents” authorities must have regard to national policies and advice issued by the Secretary of State (“the SoS”), pursuant to section 19(2). Section 38(6) of the 2004 Act and Section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provide for the development plan to be taken into account in the handling of planning applications. Read more »
Combined Authorities
May 3rd, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Decision making and ContractsRecent statutory instruments include the Combined Authorities (Finance) Order 2017, SI 2017/611, coming into force on 27 April 2017, which makes provision for various matters connected with precepting for Mayoral functions in Mayoral Combined Authorities, which are major precepting authorities for the purpose of setting council tax under the Local Government Finance Act 1992; the Transport Levying Bodies (Amendment) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/603, coming into force on 16 May 2017, amending the Transport Levying Bodies Regulations 1992 in consequence of the establishment of the Tees Valley and the West Midlands Combined Authorities, to enable the issuing of a levy by the respective Combined Authorities in order to meet the costs of carrying out their transport functions; the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Functions and Amendment) Order 2017 (Transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner Functions to the Mayor) Order, and (Fire and Rescue Functions) Order; and Orders relating to the Liverpool City Region, Sheffield City Region, Cambridge and Peterborough, Tees Valley, West Midlands, and West of England Combined Authorities. Combined Authorities are also able to create Mayoral Development Corporations, which have similar powers to New Town Development Corporations, for the purposes of the recently enacted Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.
Deprivation of Liberty Regime
May 3rd, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Judicial Control, Liability and LitigationIn R (Liverpool City Council and others) v SoS for Health (2017) EWHC 986 (Admin) four English councils sought to challenge the Government’s “ongoing failure to provide full, or even adequate, funding for local authorities in England to implement the deprivation of liberty regime“, the costs of complying with which have proved to be very substantial, following the Supreme Court Judgment in Cheshire West. They suggested that the financial shortfall suffered by councils across the country generally is somewhere between one third of a billion pounds and two thirds of a billion pounds each year and claimed that the Government must meet that shortfall. They sought a declaration that, by his failure to meet those costs, the Secretary of State for Health (“the SoS”) had created an “unacceptable risk of illegality” and was in breach of the policy constituted by the “New Burdens Doctrine” (“the NBD”). They sought a mandatory order requiring the SoS to remove the “unacceptable risk of illegality” and to comply with the NBD. Read more »
Neighbourhood Planning
May 2nd, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Planning and EnvironmentalOn 27 April 2017 the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017 received the Royal Assent. It makes provision about planning (Part 1) and compulsory purchase (Part 2) compensation. It amends the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Localism Act 2011, and legislation relating to compulsory purchase. Part 1, Neighbourhood Planning, Local Development Documents, Planning Conditions and Planning Register, apply to England.
Bus Services
May 2nd, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Environment, Highways and LeisureOn 27 April 2017 the Bus Services Act 2017 received the Royal Assent.
Parking Charges
May 2nd, 2017 by James Goudie KC in Environment, Highways and LeisureOn 27 April 2017 the Parking Places (Variation of Charges) Act 2017, extending to England and Wales, received the Royal Assent. It makes provision in relation to the procedure to be followed by local authorities when varying, from 2 months after this date, the charges to be paid in connection with the use of certain parking places. Section 1 relates to the procedure for varying charges at off-street parking places. It amends Section 35C of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Section 2 of the 2017 Act relates to the procedure for varying charges at designated parking places. It amends Section 46A of the 1984 Act. Regulations under Section 35C and 46A of the 1984 Act may now make “different provision for different purposes”.