All articles by Nicholas Dobson – Page 3
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FeatureLocalism bill does not rule out bias
Apparent bias remains a serious risk to local government decisions, as some recent judgments show.
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FeatureRestraint of trade
Regulators are under pressure to justify restrictions on municipal entrepreneurialism.
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FeatureVendetta against local councillors
Blood-feuds are not limited to families in Italy, as some recent judgments illustrate.
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FeatureMayoral money for nothing
Liverpool mayor fails to overturn tribunal finding relating to outside employment.
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FeatureNo ‘magic bullet’ in consultation
If a public authority embarks on a consultation it must do so properly.
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FeatureCosts and care homes
Ambiguity over the ‘usual cost’ of fees to be paid to care service providers.
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FeatureRights of audience and planning
Executive member representations did not ‘pollute’ contentious decision.
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FeatureLocal government: abuse of power
A council that evicted a solicitors’ firm from authority-owned offices did so as a ‘punishment’.
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FeatureHow public authorities should behave
Changes in the position of ‘intransigent and misleading public authority’
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News
Injunction to prevent ‘defamatory’ employment tribunal evidence refused
The High Court recently refused (among other things) to grant an interim injunction in libel and harassment to a former council employee, Ayodele Adele Vaughan (the claimant) concerning evidence she anticipated being given in forthcoming employment tribunal (ET) proceedings.
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News
Policing football matches: charges
The core authority in this area is Glasbrook Brothers Ltd v Glamorgan County Council [1925] AC 270.
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News
History book; care home fees; charging charities
Thursday marks a key milestone in the history of local government lawyers. John Emms (former solicitor to the council at Kirklees MBC) will publish his book Local Lawyers: Public Practice. As Solicitors in Local Government merges with its chief officer counterpart, the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors, the book ...
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News
Public law ultra vires
It is clear that in certain circumstances a local authority can plead lack of legal capacity as a defence to a private law claim (see Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council [1996] 4 All ER 129). However, can a local authority prosecute for failure to have a valid caravan site ...
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News
Care home fees
Not care home fees, but tensions between Henry II and his archbishop led a character in TS Eliot’s Murder In The Cathedral to ask: ‘What peace can be found/To grow between the hammer and the anvil?’ But while a dispute over Newcastle City Council’s approach to care home fees has ...
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News
Planning – costs and material considerations
Can a planning authority take cost into account when considering whether or not to revoke a planning consent? And just what are ‘material considerations’ in planning legislation? If the answer to these questions has been keeping you anxiously awake, you can now sleep peacefully. The Supreme Court has recently prescribed ...