Oxfordshire County Council has said it is willing to take over preparation of the local plan of one of its districts after the government threatened rare use of powers that allow this.

Lincolnshire Agricultural Society has challenged West Lindsey District Council’s attempt to remove its charitable rate relief.

A refuse collector has lost his claim for disability discrimination against Bristol Waste, a wholly-owned operation of Bristol City Council.

The UK’s first official week dedicated to tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB) is being launched in March.

Over 130 family lawyers and women’s rights groups have called for Judge Tolson's continuing cases to be reviewed, following Justice Russell’s condemnation of the family court judge’s treatment of an allegation of sexual assault in a child protection fact-finding trial last month.

Yorkshire trading standards officers have helped to secure the first successful prosecution against a company fraudulently reselling event tickets on a large scale.

Folkestone and Hythe Council was threatened with a court summons by the Local Government Ombudsman over its handling of a complaint about its treatment of a homeless family.

The London Borough of Lewisham is set to scrap its director of law post and replace it with one additionally covering governance and human resources.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling that Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council must keep an allotment site in use, in a ruling that Lord Justice Lewison called “very strange”.

North Somerset Council has gone against officers’ advice to reject a planning application to expand Bristol airport to handle 12m passengers a year.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has issued advice to employers on to deal with sick pay, staff in quarantine and staff who do not want to come into work due to fears over catching the coronavirus.

The Lawyers in Local Government group (LLG) has released the shortlist of nominees for this year’s LLG Awards.

The ICO has recently said that it is satisfied that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has complied with its 2018 enforcement notice concerning the Gangs Matrix, following the deletion of 374 entries on the database.

Warwickshire County Council has said it will review its decisions in two cases in which it denied parents’ requests for deferred summer-born children to start school in reception class rather than year one after receiving criticism from the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGO).

Luton Council is to bring a judicial review of Central Bedfordshire Council’s decision to approve an application for a new link road after it says local plan examination inspectors’ letters calling the plan into question were not properly considered.

Walsall Council has successfully prosecuted a man who falsely claimed significant compensation following an injury when falling in a pothole.

The Central Housing Investment Consortium (CHIC) of social housing providers and local authorities is to procure a four-year, multi-million pound legal services framework agreement.

Trowers & Hamlins has advised Bromford Housing Group on the first sustainability linked loan in the social housing sector.

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has launched a new complaints guidebook for the UK care homes industry designed to help operators understand consumer law and implement a complaints process.

Robert Jenrick has stayed as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government following yesterday's Cabinet reshuffle, but Esther McVey has lost her position as Housing Minister.

Local authority investment in commercial property has called the soundness of the prudential borrowing framework into question and raised concerns about how far the Government can rely on it to support value-for-money decisions.

A judge has dismissed a case brought over the ownership of a village hall as totally without merit and issued an order restraining one litigant from bringing further actions.

Councils have been warned by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman over the administration of ‘top-up fees’ under the Care Act for people contributing towards relatives’ care.

The Institute of Licensing has defended its guidance on determining the suitability of applicants for taxi and private hire licences amid claims from the industry that it is unfair.

The rights of children outweigh those of confidentiality when disclosures of information about allegations of abuse are made to ministers of religion, the High Court has ruled.

A case funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has seen a pupil win a settlement from a school which excluded her over the size of her hair.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a legal challenge against the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care over what it claims is a repeated failure to move people with learning disabilities and autism into appropriate accommodation.

A councillor in London who applied for council housing in 2008 and signed a tenancy for a council home in 2012, despite being the owner of three properties, has been found guilty on two counts of fraud by misrepresentation.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has become the latest organisation to implement CaseLines’ digital evidence management and court room presentation platform.

A mother and daughter who bred dogs without a licence, rearing at least 193 litters, have been ordered to pay back more than £600,000 following a prosecution brought by Winchester City Council.

The Housing Ombudsman has published new guidance notes aimed at assisting landlords with policies and in responding to complaints.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched a formal inquiry into how schools are monitoring and recording their use of restraint, “following widespread concerns about its use and the lack of data available”.

Law firm Trowers & Hamlins has advised the London Borough of Enfield on Meridian One, the first phase of the Meridian Water project.

A development venture has lost a judicial review challenge over a district council’s decision to accept the report of an examiner into a neighbourhood plan.

Law firm Bevan Brittan has bolstered its property and housing team in the Midlands with two experienced hires.

The Luminate Education Group, which has more than 22,000 students, is seeking to appoint a contractor or contractors to provide legal services.

A campaigner has threatened a fresh legal challenge after a consultation on proposed changes at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton did not include the option to maintain its accident and emergency department.

The University of Hertfordshire is to procure legal services worth an estimated £1.7m.

The Court of Appeal has ordered a local authority to make a contribution of £12,000 towards the costs of a great-aunt who won an appeal from care and placement orders made by a judge at the conclusion of proceedings concerning a two-year-old boy, J.

Non-disclosure agreements should not be used routinely or to prevent someone from reporting sexual harassment, discrimination or whistleblowing at work, Acas has said in new guidance.

A Planning Court judge has dismissed a judicial review challenge over the Secretary of State for Transport’s decision to decline to accept that development proposed in a planning application for Stansted Airport was a nationally significant infrastructure project.

The government needs to identify and embed authoritative ethical principles and issue accessible guidance on AI governance to those using it in the public sector, the Committee on Standards in Public Life has said.

The University of Derby has named five law firms to a legal services contract worth an estimated £600,000 over four years.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has appointed three law firms to provide legal advice and advocacy services in respect of corporate and operational matters relating to its functions.

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has unveiled plans to put in place a pan government collaborative agreement for the provision of rail legal services worth an estimated £50m over six years.

The General Pharmaceutical Council has awarded law firm Ward Hadaway a £3m contract to provide legal services to its fitness to practise team.

The Local Government Association has said it is “extremely concerned” that some witnesses to the Grenfell Inquiry could be granted immunity from having any evidence they give used in subsequent prosecutions against them.

Legal Services Lincolnshire has introduced a bespoke trainee solicitor contract intended to grow its own child protection lawyer, as part of a new recruitment and retention strategy.

A campaign group has been granted permission for a judicial review of Cumbria County Council’s decision to allow the first deep coal mine in 30 years in the UK to be built.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised Luton Borough Council after an investigation found that the local authority had carried out “significantly fewer” annual reviews of children’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans than the law requires.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has recommended a local authority pay more than £8,000 after a girl with autism missed out on around 18 months of special education support because of council delays.

A BBC investigation into 400 council websites across the UK has found that more than two-thirds did not appear to ask for the correct form of consent under GDPR.

Northumbria Police have decided to take no action over allegations concerning Northumberland County Council’s planning department and a proposed garden village.

South Cambridgeshire District Council faces judicial reviews over two planning disputes brought by the same community group.

Former Flintshire County Council leader Aaron Shotton has been suspended from office by a tribunal.

The Supreme Court has given a county council permission to appeal in a dispute over whether the ownership of land, which was gifted to a school under the School Sites Act 1841, reverted to the donor’s estate when the school ceased to operate from the gifted land.

Corby Borough Council has refused to confirm or deny local reports that it has dropped legal action over construction of the town’s Cube building.

The fragility of the electoral system is more apparent than ever, the expectations of citizens are not being met and the resilience of the electoral community to deliver is being tested, the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) has warned in a report on the December 2019 general election.

National law firm Geldards has advised Warrington Borough Council on the acquisition of a solar farm in York that is said to be the UK’s largest and most technically advanced solar and battery storage project.

One in ten councils (12%) say they are in danger of being unable to fulfil statutory duties this year and one in seven (14%) say they anticipate an increase in judicial challenges to the level of service provision, the LGiU MJ State of Local Government Finance Survey 2020 has found.