Parliament: 'legal risks multiply' by big rise in legislation on education and environment

Local authority lawyers are straining under the weight of a 'legislative onslaught' from central government, research revealed last week.


A study by publisher Sweet & Maxwell found that there were some 480 statutory instruments and seven Acts of Parliament of direct relevance to local government in 2005.


Education and environment law saw the biggest hikes in legislation, with 80 new legislative documents covering education, and 75 dealing with environmental issues. Major new laws included the Education Act 2005 and the Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. Highways and road traffic were the next most popular areas for new laws.


Nigel Snape, chairman of the Solicitors in Local Government Group, said: 'The pace and range of legislation affecting local authorities has been ever increasing. That reflects the very broad range that local councils deal with, much of which is at the forefront of government policy.


'We often hear that the [budget] for local government has taken account of the resource implications of the new legislation. Whether that filters down into more lawyers in legal departments is another issue.


'The Licensing Act that came into force last year had very major resource implications, but in many small authorities it was not possible to match that by additional legal resources. A lot of the time we have to assimilate [new laws] into the existing workload.'


Mr Snape added that the new Gambling Act 2005 is likely to add further to local government lawyers' workload.


Alina Lourie, director of Sweet & Maxwell's Legal Online business unit, said: 'Every new piece of legislation can make retrospective changes to existing legislation, which local authorities have to keep track of. But as the layers of legislation become increasingly complex, the legal risks multiply.'