Keep the Horton General v Oxfordshire CCG and Cherwell District Council (2019) EWCA Civ 646 concerns one aspect of the first part of a two-phase consultation exercise upon five proposals. McCombe LJ said:-
Local authority budgets
April 16th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Decision making and ContractsFollowing the Divisional Court decision in Hollow v Surrey County Council (2019) EWHC 618 (Admin) on local authority budgets and decisions to reduce expenditure, Supperstone J has decided R (AD) v Hackney LBC (2019) EWHC 943 (Admin), in which, again, the challenge was dismissed, and all the various grounds of challenge rejected. As regards alleged “systemic unlawfulness”, it was not the case that Hackney’s approach inherently would produce failures to comply with the relevant absolute, statutory duty (Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014). The impact of the reduction upon SEN children and Education and Health Care Plans could be mitigated in individual cases. Nor was a banded system an intrinsically unlawful way to discharge that duty. Further, there was no breach of Section 27 of the 2014 Act, of the PSED, of Section 175 of the Education Act 2002, or of Section 11 of the Children Act 2004. Moreover, no public law consultation was required under Section 27, or the PSED or at common law. There was no legitimate expectation of consultation. It was not required in order to avoid “conspicuous unfairness”. There was compliance with the Tameside duty to equip oneself with adequate information.
Options
April 9th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Land, Goods and ServicesIn Francis v Vista Del Mar Developments Ltd (2019) UKPC 14 Lady Arden stated the issues for determination on the appeal to the Privy Council from the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal as follows:-
Procedural Propriety
April 9th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Decision making and ContractsOn acting as a judge in one’s own cause, legitimate expectation, and ECHR Article 8, see the Divisional Court Judgment in R (Sargeant) v First Minister of Wales (2019) EWHC 739 (Admin). A Press Statement issued by the First Minister stating that there would be an Independent Inquiry into actions of his was held to give rise to an enforceable legitimate expectation that he would himself have no involvement in the preparatory work for the Inquiry. That expectation was breached by him by setting the remit for the drafting of the Operational Protocol governing the Inquiry and by his control over the final form of that Protocol.
Companies: General meetings and torts
April 9th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Capital Finance and CompaniesIn Schofield v Jones (2019) EWHC 803 (Ch) the Court exercised its power under Section 306 of the Companies Act 2006 to direct the holding of a Company General Meeting with a quorum of only one. The purpose of the Meeting was to remove one of two members as one of four Directors. That Director was alleged to be in breach of fiduciary duty and had lost the confidence of the other Directors. That Director can and had thwarted the holding of a General Meeting by not
Election Timetable
April 4th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Elections and BylawsMHCLG has updated its “Election timetable in England”, setting out how often different types of local authority in England hold elections for their councillors, subject to boundary changes, and its Guidance on “Local government structure and elections”, providing information on the different types of council in England and their electoral arrangements.
Injunctions against persons unknown
April 4th, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Judicial Control, Liability and LitigationBoyd v Ineos (2019) EWCA Civ 515 was an appeal from Morgan J who had granted injunctions against persons unknown who were thought to be likely to become protesters at sites selected for the purpose of “fracking”.
The main issue was whether the Judge had been correct to grant injunctions against “persons unknown”. RSC Order 113 of the RSC enabled this. There are also statutory provisions enabling local authorities to take enforcement proceedings against persons such as squatters or travellers contained in Section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Since the advent of the CPR, there has been no requirement to name a defendant in a claim form. Orders have been made against Persons Unknown in appropriate cases. Read more »
Contractual Interpretation
April 1st, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Decision making and ContractsThe issue before the Court of Appeal (Longmore, David Richards and Leggatt LJJ) in Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (2019) EWCA Civ 526 was one of interpretation of a contract to establish an escrow account.
Participation in public contract
April 1st, 2019 by James Goudie KC in Decision making and ContractsCase C-101/18, Idi v Arcadis, CJEU Judgment on 28 March 2019, concerns the exclusion of Idi from participating in a tendering procedure for a public services contract.