The Local Government Association’s Improvement and Innovation Board will this week (24 May) consider a new improvement and assurance framework for local government.
Law firm Burges Salmon has advised Worthing Borough Council on a low carbon district heating project that is intended to offer climate-friendly heating to all Worthing homes and buildings by 2050 and create more than 500 jobs.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has launched a consultation on the introduction of new Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRS) that will allow social housing tenants and their representatives, such as their lawyers, to access information related to…
A taxi driver has failed in an appeal over the revocation of his private hire licence after he was caught by police using a mobile phone whilst driving.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) scheme "before having all the elements" in place needed to ensure its long-term success, a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned.
Nottingham City Council's Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB) has voiced its disappointment that some governance problems remain unresolved in its parting report on the council.
The chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee, Clive Betts MP, has accused the Government of a lack of engagement over a pre-appointment hearing for its preferred candidate for the next chair of the Office for Local Government (Oflog).
Local authorities will from this summer gain a power to require landlords to rent out persistently vacant shops and other commercial properties as part of attempts to reinvigorate high streets, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has confirmed.
Reading Borough Council has joined nine urban councils in questioning Government proposals on brownfield reform after raising concerns that the changes could override local planning policies.
The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, has issued practice guidance on urgent applications, out of hours applications and bundles in the Family Division of the High Court.
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has issued a remediation order requiring a freeholder to resolve building safety issues with a 16-storey tower block in Stevenage.
An inspector failed to properly consider the position of a company that had entered liquidation while pursuing a planning appeal, the High Court has found.
Governments should stop treating adult social care as a political football and make a substantial long-term investment in it to mark the tenth anniversary of the Care Act 2014.
The High Court has agreed to hear a statutory review claim challenging the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove's decision to allow the construction of a 100-metre tall office building on London's Southbank.
There is no obligation to serve parking fine notices in Welsh in Wales, a judge has ruled in the case of a language activist who refuses to pay a fine notified in English.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found that the London Borough of Tower Hamlets did not do enough to help a family who were about to be evicted by their landlord.
North Yorkshire Council has self-referred to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) after a review undertaken after the unitary’s establishment found that work needs to be done to meet all elements of the Social Housing (Regulations) Act 2023.
The next government should extend devolution to at least 85% of England's population in order to complete a "job half done", the Institute for Government (IfG) has said.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced an investigation into whether ESS (Education Software Solutions Ltd) has broken the law by taking action to prevent schools from switching to a new management information system provider ahead of contract renewal dates.
MPs have said the 'agent of change' principle should be put on a statutory footing "at the earliest opportunity" as part of efforts to help support the UK's faltering grassroots music industry.
Birmingham City Council has been threatened with a judicial review of its decision to approve the demolition of an iconic brutalist building in the city centre, amid claims the local authority misinterpreted local policy concerning the carbon impact of demolishing a building.
The Government has tabled amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill tightening the definition of ‘nuisance rough sleeping’ after MPs expressed concerns about the breadth of the legislation’s provisions.
The Department for Education (DfE) has issued Wirral Council with an improvement notice as a result of “poor progress” across the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) sector in the borough.
Government plans to accelerate the planning system by reforming extensions of time agreements, appeals, and by introducing a sped-up planning route for major commercial applications have been strongly opposed by the Local Government Association (LGA).
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Birmingham Children's Trust Community Interest Company after the personal information of a child was “inappropriately disclosed” to another family.
The Government Commercial Function has published a National Procurement Policy Statement setting out the strategic priorities for public procurement and how contracting authorities can support their delivery.
The High Court will this week (15 May) hear a challenge being brought by a nightclub in south-east London to a licensing authority’s use of remote hearings.
Dawn Carter-McDonald is set to be confirmed as the chief executive of the London Borough of Hackney on a permanent basis, following a competitive recruitment process.
The Local Government Association has written to the Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, to express concerns about how data held by the Office for Local Government (Oflog) was used by The Times to compile a league table of what the newspaper claimed were England’s ‘worst-performing councils’.
Whistleblowing allegations relating to contracts signed by Guildford Borough Council were not taken to members, according to an independent review conducted by SOLACE.
The Government has tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that will see child rapists lose their parental responsibilities when they are sentenced.
Ofsted is to display each of the sub-judgements awarded to an individual school, alongside its overall grade, at the top of its inspection report web page.
Strong regulation of artificial intelligence systems is essential to preventing any repetition of the Post Office’s Horizon scandal, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said.
A campaigner threatening Camden Council with a judicial review has claimed the local authority ignored its own planning policies when giving planning permission for a new 74-metre tower block in central London.
The Housing Ombudsman has appointed its new Resident Panel, comprising 1,500 residents from across the country to share their views on complaints within social housing and how all of the sector, including the Ombudsman itself, can make improvements.
The High Court has found that Staffordshire County Council properly made a traffic order to which local farmers objected and that neither predetermination nor misinterpretation of a scheme of delegation were involved.
Reading Borough Council has applied for a statutory review of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities' decision to grant planning permission to a 600-home development scheme.
A planning inspector misdirected himself in a dispute over the construction of house in Beaconsfield and misunderstood case law, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced a best value inspection at Warrington Borough Council to investigate the circumstances that have seen the local authority's debt rise to almost £2bn.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has appointed a best value inspector for Spelthorne District Council in light of the council's “extremely high levels” of debt and borrowing.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has issued South Cambridgeshire District Council with another best value notice as the row over the local authority’s trial of a four-day week continues.
Cambridgeshire County Council has scored only a partial success in a High Court bid to have a statutory claim struck out in a dispute over a road closure.
Somerset Council has apologised to one of its commercial property tenants for stating that the company supplied weapons used by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has proposed reducing the level of intervention at Liverpool City Council by moving from a commissioner-led model to a statutory Assurance and Improvement Board.
A judge has been issued with a formal warning by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO), after it was found she had shouted at and interrupted a legal representative during a hearing.
The next government must give local leaders greater economic powers and financial control over regeneration to boost housebuilding and long-term local economic growth, the Localis think tank has said.
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, has issued statutory guidance on best value standards and interventions under section 26 of the Local Government Act 1999, aimed at providing greater clarity to the sector in England on how to fulfil the best value duty.
The Supreme Court has allowed a Welsh council's appeal in a dispute over the diminution in value of land arising from the encroachment of Japanese knotweed.
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee has repeated its call for the Government to invest further “to build the social homes the country needs”, warning that the sector is under “serious financial pressure, although it remains resilient for the time being”.
The new fee regime of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), which will see social landlords pay for the full cost of their regulation, is to come into effect on 1 July 2024.
The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, have written to local authorities setting out a three-step approach to reducing the number of care leavers found intentionally homeless.
The Government has this month (1 May) launched a consultation on lifting the 50% cap on faith school places alongside proposals on opening special faith-based academies.
National Park Authorities (NPAs) in Wales should improve on a number of areas including member officer relations, as well as the appointment and the diversity of members, Audit Wales has said.
NAHT, the school leader’s union, has instructed its National Executive to explore all campaign, legal and industrial routes to secure “necessary changes” to inspections by Ofsted.
The Court of Appeal has allowed appeals brought by a local authority and a children’s guardian against a judge's decision in care proceedings that a fact-finding hearing was unnecessary.
A High Court judge has adjourned an application made on behalf of a mother for an intermediary assessment within care proceedings, noting that intermediaries are only to be used when their use is “necessary”.
A woman who suffers from anorexia cannot be forced to stay in accommodation which she has consented to occupy if she changes her mind, a Deputy High Court judge has ruled on authorising her deprivation of liberty at the new placement.
The Government acted irrationally and unlawfully, breaching the Climate Change Act 2008, when it adopted its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, the High Court has found.
A trade union representing civil servants has launched a judicial review challenge relating to an alleged conflict between the Civil Service Code and the UK government's Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024.
A local resident is threatening legal action against the Vale of Glamorgan Council over the construction of a complex of modular homes to house Ukrainian refugees.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council has failed in a security of costs application to the High Court over a dispute with a former recruitment contractor.
Chelmsford City Council and Braintree District Council have secured a High Court injunction over unauthorised development and waste dumping at a site crossed by their boundary.
Powers to vary an abatement notice issued by a local authority against a statutory nuisance under s.80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 rest with magistrates, not the local authority, the Court of Appeal has found.
The Court of Protection has dismissed an appeal brought by the mother of a disabled young man LL against her removal as his deputy for personal welfare.
The London Borough of Bexley has been issued with an improvement notice by the Department for Education (DfE) following an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) Area SEND Inspection.
The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal against a judge’s findings that fractures to both the tibias of a 10 month old girl had been inflicted either deliberately or recklessly by either her mother or father.
Mid Suffolk District Council has lost an attempt to persuade the High Court to overturn a planning inspector’s decision in favour of a developer over the non-determination of its application.
The Government has proposed a number of measures to strengthen protections in place for children and vulnerable people subject to a strip search by police, including the requirement for parents and guardians to be informed.
This year has seen one of the highest levels of Director of Children’s Services (DCS) postholder changes at local authorities since the role was established.
Law firm Bevan Brittan has promoted five lawyers to partner and one to legal director as part of a record promotions round that has seen 38 individuals promoted across its network of offices.
The Supreme Court will next week (8 May) hand down its ruling on a Welsh council’s appeal in a dispute over whether residual diminution in value of a property in a Japanese knotweed case is pure economic loss and irrecoverable.
New regulations on consumer protections for homes served by heat networks will provide fairer pricing, clearer billing, and boost compensation where customers lose access to heating, a Government consultation response has promised.
The Lady Chief Justice, Dame Sue Carr, has created a Transparency and Open Justice Board, which will “lead and coordinate the promotion of transparency and open justice across the courts and tribunals of England & Wales”.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has this week published the terms of reference for the review of the causes of legal challenges brought against the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime.
South Staffordshire Council has reported that the Planning Inspectorate has chosen to delay its inquiry relating to an enforcement notice issued over the demolition of the Crooked House pub.
Affordable housing provider The Riverside Group (TRGL), which manages more than 75,000 homes across 175 local authorities in England and Scoltand, is to procure a replacement legal services framework worth up to £11m.
The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a new advisory group on the profiteering of private companies from children’s social care, amid concerns about the rising cost of procuring residential accommodation from private providers.
The Welsh Government and Cafcass Cymru have published guidance to help support parents and other carers when they are explaining decisions made in the Family Court to children.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has rebuffed a parliamentary committee’s call to instruct the National Audit Office to investigate the Teesside Freeport, Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) and the South Tees Development Corporation.
A social worker has been awarded over £58,000 in damages from Westminster City Council and Social Work England (SWE) for discrimination relating to her “gender critical beliefs”, the first time a Regulator has been ordered to pay exemplary damages because of the manner in which it has carried out…
The Renters Reform bill has passed its third reading in the House of Commons, despite it including an indefinite delay to the end of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
An appeal challenging a High Court decision over the deregistration of part of a village green by housebuilder Laing Homes has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed a father’s appeal regarding the suitability of accommodation offered by the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which was distant from his child’s private faith school.
The Local Government Association (LGA), the Electoral Commission and the Jo Cox Foundation have made a joint call for no abuse towards candidates during the upcoming local elections.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council Legal has secured an injunction preventing school staff from striking after arguing the strike ballot failed to comply with the Trade Union & Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
A local authority can only require an actual blockage to a watercourse to be removed, and cannot order the removal of related material from a wider area, the High Court has said.
Manchester City Council should have made greater efforts to ensure that an improvement notice and subsequent penalty demand reached a landlord, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has said, upholding an appeal against a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
Somerset Council has agreed to explore its legal options for evicting an Israeli-owned weapons manufacturer from an office building the local authority owns after receiving legal advice from a KC on behalf of a pro-Palestinian pressure group.
Suffolk County Council failed to provide a young girl with alternative education provision for 18 months after she could no longer attend school, an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
The High Court has rejected a judicial review claim brought by a City Technology College, which challenged a decision by Ofsted to rate the leadership and management at the school as 'good', rather than 'outstanding'.
Bristol City Council's decision to grant permission for a 28-storey development was the result of "misleading" advice from officers, a pre-action protocol letter has claimed.
Manchester City Council should have made greater efforts to ensure that an improvement notice and subsequent penalty demand reached a landlord, the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) has said, upholding an appeal against a decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
There is “legitimate public concern” as to the accommodation where vulnerable young people are being placed, the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, has warned MPs.
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is set to ask permission from the Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to take legal action against a landfill operator over odours emanating from the site.
A Court of Protection judge has ordered a mother to leave the home owned by her disabled adult son, finding it was not in his best interests for her to live in the same house “at the present time”.
External auditors have told Teignbridge District Council for the second year running that it needs to improve relationships between its members and officers.
The High Court is this week (24-25 April) hearing a school’s legal challenge over an inspection report issued by Ofsted following two separate inspections.
Audit Wales has unveiled plans to improve the timeliness of its performance audit work at NHS and local government bodies and to restore the auditing of accounts of the 800 public bodies across Wales to pre-pandemic timescales over the next few years.
A High Court judge has allowed a local authority’s application for leave to invoke the inherent jurisdiction in relation to the withdrawal of medical treatment and the provision of end of life care for a young child.
Hertfordshire County Council has instructed a barrister to carry out an independent review on the effectiveness of its Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment process.
A decision by the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) in 2022 to strike out proceedings concerning a freedom of information (FOI) request submitted to Northumberland County Council involved an error in a point of law and should be remitted for a rehearing, an Upper Tribunal judge has decided.
More than a quarter of the public (26%) wish to have more of a say in how decisions are taken in their local areas, a survey from the LGiU has suggested.