Simple steps to improve cybersecurity
Sameer Dixit argues security is a weak point in councils' armour and outlines ways local authorities can anticipate and plan for cyberattacks.
Court finds in favour of museum in ‘landmark’ business rates case
17/01/2020 A long-running battle over how museums are valued for business rates has come to an end with a court ruling that they should be valued based on net income. |
Medway caves after Ombudsman rap
16/01/2020 Medway Council has finally accepted the recommendations in a Local Government Ombudsman public interest report after a two-year stand-off. |
Charity drops legal action against Glasgow Council
15/01/2020 Shelter has dropped legal action against Glasgow City Council after the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) announced it was intervening. |
Union calls for Sanctuary Care homes to be brought ‘back in-house’
14/01/2020 Unite is urging councils who have contracts with Sanctuary Care to bring them ‘in-house’ after a criminal investigation was launched into one of its homes. |
Council chiefs welcome £4m ‘rogue landlord’ fund
03/01/2020 Local authorities have welcomed a funding commitment by the Government aimed at cracking down on criminal landlords and letting agents. |
Homeowner fined over £60,00 for ‘wilful damage’ to a protected tree
24/12/2019 A homeowner who damaged a 90-year-old tree so much that it had to be felled has been fined over £60,000 by magistrates. |
Welsh government bans combustible cladding
23/12/2019 Welsh government has banned the use of combustible cladding on high rise buildings following the Hackitt review into fire safety after the Grenfell tragedy. |
Former council employee who falsified air quality data convicted of fraud
20/12/2019 A former Waverley Borough Council employee has been given a suspended prison sentence for committing fraud after falsifying air quality data. |
Rogue west London landlord fined over £400,000
18/12/2019 A landlord in west London has been ordered to pay £430,000 for illegally renting out her property to 15 tenants. |
NHS business rates claim rejected by High Court
12/12/2019 Councils have successfully defended a claim for billions of pounds of tax relief for NHS trusts. |
Wakefield council ‘overcharging’ cabbies, court rules
12/12/2019 A court has ruled that Wakefield council were overcharging local taxi drivers for a licence to trade in what could prove to be a landmark case. |
Council loses court battle over £1m fatal bin lorry crash damages
11/12/2019 Glasgow City Council has failed in its bid to reclaim the £1m in damages it was forced to pay to the families of those who lost their lives in a bin lorry crash. |
Rogue landlord fined for ‘endangering lives’
11/12/2019 A landlord in Birmingham has been successfully prosecuted and ordered to pay close to £20,000 for breaching housing regulations. |
Council fined £500,000 after death of woman with dementia
10/12/2019 A council has been fined half a million pounds and has apologised following the death at one of their care homes of a woman with dementia. |
Court rules adoption service ‘discriminated against’ couple
09/12/2019 A court has awarded a couple £120,000 in damages after their local adoption service turned them away because of their Indian heritage. |
Councils could lose millions in utilities repayments after court ruling
04/12/2019 Local authorities could be facing repayments worth millions of pounds to council tenants in excess water charges, after a High Court ruling last week. |
London council sues contractors for £130m over ‘fire safety failings’
29/11/2019 Camden Council has launched legal action against a group of contractors over ‘multiple fire safety failings’ that led to the evacuation of the Chalcots Estate two years ago. |
Council wins battle to ban anti LGBT protests
26/11/2019 Birmingham City Council has won a court battle to permanently ban anti-LGBT protests outside a local primary school. |
Council secures ‘unusual’ legal order against home improvement firms
07/11/2019 Gateshead Council has used a little-used piece of legislation to take enforcement action against two home improvement agencies. |
Councils spending more than £4m on SEN tribunals
28/10/2019 Local authorities spent £4.3m on handling and contesting special educational needs tribunals last year - an increase of nearly a quarter compared to the year before. |
Ashford BC’s local plan ‘legally sound’, court rules
11/10/2019 The High Court has rejected a case brought against Ashford Borough Council’s local plan, which the court concluded was legally ‘sound’. |
Home Office urged to review abortion clinic buffer zone decision
09/10/2019 Charities and medical bodies have today written to the Home Secretary to ask for an ‘urgent review’ of a decision taken last year not to install buffer zones around abortion clinics. |
Glasgow faces legal battle over homeless services
03/10/2019 Shelter Scotland has launched a legal battle against Glasgow City Council over failures in its homelessness service. |
Councils vs network operators?
01/10/2019 The Electronic Communications Code reduces red tape, but in doing so it cuts the potential revenue property owners stand to make and risks pitting local authorities against operators. Zoe Wright reports. |
Biffa fined for £350,000 over contaminated China shipment
30/09/2019 Waste management firm Biffa has been fined £350,000 for trying to send contaminated household waste to China. |
Facing up the future?
27/09/2019 Sue Chadwick urges local authorities to think hard before using Automatic Facial Recognition technology on publicly owned land and buildings. |
Named person scheme dropped
20/09/2019 A mandatory named person scheme for every child in Scotland – underpinned by law – will not now happen, deputy first minister John Swinney has announced. |
Funding boost for councils to crack down on illegal green belt development
13/09/2019 Councils will receive nearly £2m to help tackle illegal development on the green belt. |
High Court overturns Highworth election result
09/09/2019 Swindon Borough Council has welcomed a High Court decision to overturn an election which saw the wrong candidate elected as a councillor. |
Hackney to take developer to court
02/09/2019 A London borough is preparing to take legal action against a developer over fire safety fears in a block of flats. |
Lawyers warn 100 local authorities over climate change plans
02/09/2019 Environmental lawyers have threatened legal action against 100 local authorities across England unless they introduce new climate change plans. |
New rules to increase housing deal transparency
02/09/2019 Councils will be legally required to publish deals with housing developers after new rules were introduced. |
Council accused of acting ‘unlawfully’ over housing of homeless people
20/08/2019 Glasgow City Council has been threatened with legal action over its failure to provide homeless people with temporary accommodation. |
Council loses appeal to keep publishing fortnightly newspaper
09/08/2019 Hackney Council has lost its final legal appeal to keep publishing its fortnightly newsletter, Hackney Today. |
Councils accused of ‘criminalising’ businesses over rates arrears
05/08/2019 Local authorities are ‘criminalising’ struggling businesses such as pubs and shops by taking them to court over non-payment of business rates, a real estate advisor claims. |
Council tenant fined £100,000 for illegal sublet
30/07/2019 A council tenant has been fined £100,000 and evicted from his property by Westminster City Council after he illegally sublet his flat through Airbnb. |
Court date set for councils' £2bn tax dispute with NHS trusts
08/07/2019 A court date has been set for the long-running legal dispute between councils and NHS trusts over rates relief. |
Council apologises for misinforming homeless teenager about their rights
05/07/2019 Essex County Council has apologised for turning away homeless children from care following a judicial review and has committed to better train its social workers. |
Councils 'failing' to prosecute rogue letting agents
04/07/2019 The association representing landlords has accused local authorities of failing to prosecute rogue letting agents. |
One in three councils fear funding for legal duties will 'run out’
02/07/2019 A third of councils fear they will run out of funding to provide statutory services, such as adult social care, by the end of this Parliament, survey reveals. |
Birmingham City Council and Amey reach £300m deal
01/07/2019 Birmingham City Council has reached an agreement with Amey which will allow the outsourcing company to buy its way out of its highways contract for £300m. |
Council to appeal 'town hall Pravdas' ruling
14/06/2019 Waltham Forest LBC will appeal after a judge backed Government attempts to stop it publishing a council newspaper every two weeks. |
London Councils welcome drug dealers being jailed in ‘landmark’ slavery case
15/05/2019 Three ‘county lines’ drug dealers have been sent to prison in a landmark case using the Modern Slavery Act. |
Councils call for tougher punishments for fly-tippers
13/05/2019 People convicted of fly-tipping should be handed tougher sentences councils have argued, after figures show no-one has been given the maximum punishment allowed since new guidelines in 2014. |
Fatal accidents and criminal liability
08/05/2019 Fatal accidents are usually preventable which leads to questions of responsibility and criminal liability. Guy Bastable and Tom McNeill seek to explain when organisations and individuals will be found criminally liable, for which offences, and with what sanction. |
Court rules voting provision for blind people is 'unlawful'
07/05/2019 The way in which blind or partially sighted people are able to vote has been declared ‘unlawful’ in a successful legal challenge. |
Security fears after candidate addresses published
02/05/2019 Security concerns have been raised after a loophole forced councils to publish the home addresses of candidates standing in the EU elections. |
Heathrow runway clears High Court hurdle
01/05/2019 The High Court has dismissed arguments against Heathrow expansion and found that the Government is free to ignore the Paris Agreement on climate action until it forms part of UK law. |
Research finds 'legal aid deserts' across the country
29/04/2019 More than half of councils in England and Wales have no housing legal aid providers in their area, research has revealed. |
Vicarious liability
02/04/2019 Helen Snow, senior associate in the employment team at Geldards LLP, looks at how to mitigate against the rogue employee. |
Councils must finalise air quality plans or face legal action, lawyers say
27/03/2019 Environmental campaigners have written to 38 local authorities warning them to finalise their air quality plans or face legal action. |
Black Country ban on 'car cruising' upheld in court
25/02/2019 Wolverhampton council has welcomed a decision by the High Court to uphold the local authority’s injunction banning car cruising in the Black Country. |
Bristol council misses second deadline for clean air plan
22/02/2019 Bristol City Council has missed its second deadline for publishing its clean air plan due to concerns it would have an ‘adverse impact’ on low income groups. |
Council to take legal action over Storm Doris death
22/02/2019 A West Midlands council has confirmed that it will pursue legal action against the building management company of the Mander Centre for the death of Tahnie Martin. |
Birmingham's winter of discontent
15/02/2019 With a series of one-day strikes to go ahead in Birmingham, Mark Whitehead explores what led to this long-running dispute over waste collection. |
Union refused an injunction over ongoing bin dispute
15/02/2019 A series of one-day strikes by refuse collectors in Birmingham is set to go ahead next week after a legal challenge by the Unite union failed. |
Carers win right to appeal in £400m sleep-in shift battle
14/02/2019 The Supreme Court has granted carers the right to appeal in the ongoing sleep-in shift legal battle with a the mental health charity Mencap. |
Union seeks injunction against Birmingham in long-running bin dispute
07/02/2019 Unite is taking high court legal action against Birmingham City Council for operating refuse vehicles without safety critical role. |
Council considers selling off venues to fund equal pay settlement
04/02/2019 Glasgow city councillors are expected to rubber stamp a multi-million pound package this week to settle the long-running dispute over equal pay for women employees. |
Stevenage Borough Council seeks judicial review of delayed local plan
01/02/2019 Stevenage Borough Council has decided to take legal action over the Government’s decision to delay the authority’s local plan for over a year. |
Call for power to ban councillors
30/01/2019 Council standards boards should have the power to ban councillors for up to six months without allowances, the Committee on Standards in Public Life has recommended. |
Third district joins legal action against Bucks unitary plan
28/01/2019 A third council has announced it will be taking legal action against the proposed new unitary council for Buckinghamshire. |
Buckinghamshire districts threaten legal action over unitary plan
21/01/2019 Two Buckinghamshire districts have written to the Government warning they could launch legal proceedings over plans to create a single county unitary. |
Glasgow agrees equal pay deal to end long-running dispute
17/01/2019 Glasgow City Council has struck an agreement in principle to resolve historical claims for unequal pay. |
DWP’s interpretation of Universal Credit regulations ‘unlawful’, court rules
11/01/2019 The High Court today has ruled that the way the Department for Work and Pensions interprets Universal Credit regulations is ‘unlawful’. |
Roles and responsibilities
08/01/2019 Tiffany Cloynes and Martyn Davies explore how councils can best manage roles in local authority companies. |
Campaigners continue legal battle over two-child benefits
19/12/2018 Poverty campaigners are continuing their legal battle over the Government's two-child benefits policy in the Court of Appeal this week. |
Brokenshire proposes specialist housing court
13/11/2018 The communities secretary has announced he is considering establishing a specialist housing court to deal with disputes between landlords and tenants. |
Council prosecuted over Legionella case
08/11/2018 Tendring District Council has confirmed it is being prosecuted for failing to manage the risk of Legionella at its leisure centre sites. |
Council's 'core offer' still leaves £33m deficit
05/11/2018 East Sussex CC’s chief executive Becky Shaw has laid out a ‘core offer’ that could risk the council’s ‘ability to meet statutory guidance and deadlines’. |
Council hits back at 'illegitimate' loan claim
31/10/2018 Newham LBC has denied claims that decisions to enter into controversial high-interest loans were illegitimate. |
Liberty to bring legal challenge against Legal Aid Agency
23/10/2018 A civil liberties group will take the Government to court over its refusal to provide legal aid to those wishing to challenge councils over their use of anti-social behaviour legislation. |
A missed opportunity?
12/10/2018 The Mental Health (Amendment) Bill should soften financial and operational pressure on local authorities, but it will still leave them open to legal exposure, argues Morris Hill. |
Government acted ‘unlawfully’ over Dubs Amendment
04/10/2018 The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that the Government acted ‘unlawfully’ in not giving reasons to children refused entry to Britain under the Dubs Amendment. |
Welfare support has 'collapsed' for many in England
19/09/2018 One in six top-tier councils are not providing vital welfare services devolved to them just as the sector’s budget cuts hit hard. |
Court rules bereavement benefit restrictions breaches human rights
30/08/2018 Denying bereavement benefits to unmarried, cohabiting partners with children is incompatible with human rights law, court rules. |
Council recovers housing benefit payments from rogue landlord
30/08/2018 In a landmark case, Thurrock council has successfully recovered housing benefit from a landlord who forced a tenant to live in appalling conditions. |
Council first to use new legal powers to demand Brexit clarity
29/08/2018 The leader of Plymouth City Council is hoping to force the Government to reveal the impact Brexit will have on the city through the use of new legal powers. |
Council secures injunction against travellers
17/08/2018 Bromley Council has been granted an interim High Court injunction to prevent illegal travellers from setting up in the borough. |
Northamptonshire library closures ruled ‘unlawful’
15/08/2018 The decision to close 21 council-run libraries in Northamptonshire was made unlawfully, a court has ruled. |
Christchurch refused permission to appeal reorganisation judgement
13/08/2018 Christchurch Borough Council has been refused leave to appeal the judgement about local government reorganisation. |
Council faces legal action over pothole death
10/08/2018 Warwickshire County Council is facing possible legal action after delays in repairing a pothole led to the death of a cyclist. |
Unison appeals against reversal of £400m sleep-in shift ruling
08/08/2018 Unison has lodged an official appeal against the ruling that social care providers will no longer be required to pay £400m in backpay to carers doing sleep-in shifts. |
Warning that more councils could cut services to bare minimum
07/08/2018 An increasing number of councils could be forced to cut services to the legal minimum, financial experts have warned. |
Councils begin judicial review against Heathrow expansion
07/08/2018 Five London councils, Greenpeace and the mayor of London have started judicial review proceedings against the expansion of Heathrow airport. |
Christchurch reorganisation challenge defeated
07/08/2018 Christchurch BC may launch an appeal after a High Court judge today refused its challenge to local government reorganisation plans. |
Court rules £5m of special needs cuts ‘illegal’
06/08/2018 Bristol City Council has said it is ‘disappointed’ by a court ruling that found the authority had acted illegally by cutting £5m from the budget for children with special needs. |
Councils seek judicial review of Heathrow runway decision
20/07/2018 London councils have notified the secretary of state for transport they will be seeking a judicial review of the decision to support third Heathrow runway. |
Councils sue Barclays over controversial LOBO loans
16/07/2018 Barclays are being sued by 14 local authorities over allegations it committed fraud over loans to councils. |
Court reverses £400m sleep-in shift ruling
13/07/2018 Council leaders have welcomed the Court of Appeal ruling that social care providers will no longer be required to pay £400m in backpay to carers doing sleep-in shifts. |
Councils sue one in six businesses over rate arrears figures reveal
13/07/2018 Nearly 190,000 companies were taken to court last year by councils over non-payment of business rates, a new investigation has revealed. |
Council’s boycott of illegal Israeli settlements ‘legitimate’, court rules
05/07/2018 The Court of Appeal has ruled that Leicester City Council’s decision to boycott illegal Israeli settlements is both ‘temperate and legitimate’. |
Court upholds abortion clinic safe zone
03/07/2018 Ealing Council has welcomed what it described as a ‘landmark decision’ by the High Court to uphold its right to establish a safe zone around abortion clinic. |
Council staff drop multi-million legal claims against Birmingham City Council
26/06/2018 A multi-million pound raft of legal claims over sex discrimination have been dropped by Birmingham City Council workers without explanation. |
Council facing £5m equal pay bill
26/06/2018 Fife Council has been warned it could face a £5m bill from a new round of equal pay claims. |
Council’s legal challenge to Dorset reorganisation to proceed to High Court
22/06/2018 Christchurch Borough Council has been given permission to take its case against local government reorganisation in Dorset to the High Court. |
Council fines 'try before you buy’ sex toy shop
19/06/2018 A local authority in the north east has fined a sex doll company £10,000 for operating without a licence. |
London council to take legal action over fortnightly newsletter
06/06/2018 Waltham Forest council has confirmed it will launch a legal battle over a government instruction to stop publishing its fortnightly newsletter. |
Councils take over 1,000 people to court for ‘social care debt’
04/06/2018 Local authorities have taken more than 1,000 people to court for social care debt over the past two years, according to GMB. |
Fitzgerald resigns from Liverpool ahead of crunch meeting
14/05/2018 Liverpool City Council’s chief executive, Ged Fitzgerald, is understood to have resigned days before an independent panel was due to consider his future. |
This issue of Public Property examines how public sector organisations can unlock the hidden value in their land, and why a new approach to construction could help boost the outcomes of the Government’s One Public Estate programme.
The December issue also considers why learnings from ancient cities could provide the key to promoting wellbeing in the modern built environment. It also contains a case study on how the London Borough of Westminster has provided high quality care for the elderly alongside a block of luxury apartments.
