REUTERS | Thomas Peter
25/03/2015

Issues with the community right to bid…

In the light of a recent report published by the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee on community rights (HOC report) and a number of Ask queries we have had from subscribers, we thought it would be timely to look at some of the issues arising from the right to bid for assets of community value (ACV) introduced under the Localism Act 2011 (LA 2011) (see Practice note, Localism Act 2011: assets of community value). As well as the community right to bid, the HOC report also looked at the community rights to build, challenge and reclaim land (see Practice note, Localism Act 2011: community right to challenge). Continue reading →

REUTERS | Dani Cardona
23/03/2015

Freedom of information law quarterly digest (January – March 2015)

Our quarterly freedom of information law update blogs focus on the latest developments in freedom of information law under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (EIR). The blog will enable readers advising on freedom of information law to catch up on the most important cases, issues or developments on the topic. This post looks at freedom of information law developments from January to March 2015.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases, issues or developments that are covered, or if you think we have missed something that should be brought to the attention of freedom of information practitioners. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Nicky Loh
11/03/2015

Public procurement case digest (February 2015)

February’s case digest includes two High Court cases considering the lifting of automatic suspensions on contract awards for services.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases covered, or think that we have missed a case that should be brought to the attention of public procurement practitioners. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Russell Boyce
10/03/2015

How practical is a 350 page bundle for care proceedings?

From the view of a local authority lawyer conducting care proceedings and generally being in charge of the court bundle, the simplest of cases will often expand beyond two full lever arch files. These will be filled with the life story of not only the child or children, but also those of their parents and possibly other family members such as grandparents or aunts and uncles.

Continue reading →

REUTERS | Toby Melville
04/03/2015

Public procurement legislation and policy review: December 2014 to February 2015

Our first post of this year on the key developments in public procurement legislation and policy that lawyers need to be aware of covers the period from December 2014 to February 2015. It does not consider case law as this is covered in our monthly public procurement case digest. For a summary of the latest cases, see Public procurement case digest (January 2015).

Subscribers to Practical Law can keep up to date with the latest public procurement developments by signing up to the Practical Law Public Sector email update (available weekly) or the Practical Law Competition updates (available daily). Updates are also tweeted on the @PracLawProcure Twitter feed. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Lisi Niesner
03/03/2015

Restoring viability to city centre regeneration? Enter Pressetext

On 11 February 2015, the High Court quashed a decision by Winchester City Council to vary an agreement with a developer for a proposed redevelopment of the Silver Hill area of Winchester city centre (R (on the application of Gottlieb) v Winchester City Council [2015] EWHC 231 (Admin)). In doing so, Mrs Justice Lang applied the ECJ’s decision in Pressetext Nachrichtsagentur v Republik Österreich (Bund) (C-454/06) in holding that the implementation by the Council of the variations in question constituted material change to the original development agreement, thereby triggering a fresh requirement for a competitive tender exercise.

Christopher Brennan, Consultant at Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, considers the decision. Continue reading →