News & Events

Listed below are the national news items and national events.

The Timetable for the Parliamentary UK General Election Has Been Published
Publish date: 31/10/2019
The Electoral Commission has published the timetable for the UK General Election. The timetable is based on the assumption that the writ is received on the day following the dissolution of Parliament.
Are You An Expert Practitioner In Your Field?
Publish date: 31/10/2019
LLG is looking to recruit 3 new National Leads to champion the profession in the following fields: - Employment Partnership & Procurement Housing & Regeneration
Event Invitation - Employment Law Update
Publish date: 28/10/2019
We would be delighted if you could join us at our next round of Employment Law Update seminars. Seminars will be held in Bristol, Birmingham, London and Leeds in December.
Procurement Update Seminars - Event invitation from Bevan Brittan
Publish date: 28/10/2019
Bevan Brittan will be hosting its next series of Procurement updates. Dates will be held in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Bristol in November.
Building a Safer Future - regulation, risk and best practice. Where are we now?
Publish date: 23/10/2019
Join Weightmans for this informative morning seminar, to explore what the proposals mean for the construction industry and how to prepare for change.
LLG President Delivers Rallying Speech at Governance Conference
Publish date: 20/10/2019
Read the President's speech to the LLG Governance Conference 2019
Government Releases No Deal Brexit Readiness Report
Publish date: 08/10/2019
The report includes information on borders, industry, medicines, imports and exports and security. A chapter dedicated to Public Services and Local Authorities Appears at chapter 7
R (on the application of Miller) (Appellant) v The Prime Minister (Respondent) Cherry and others (Respondents) v Advocate General for Scotland (Appellant) (Scotland)
Publish date: 01/10/2019
Judgement of the Supreme Court
LLG Publishes Guidance on EU Exit Statutory Instruments with Local Government Impact
Publish date: 27/09/2019
LLG is delighted to launch our guidance on EU Exit Statutory Instruments with Local Government Impacts. The guidance is designed to set out the broad range of governance documents which underpin local authorities, and which may be affected by changes brought in by the government. It sets out in detail the main changes brought about by numerous statutory instruments which broadly correct “retained EU law” to ensure that the legislation will work properly once the UK has left the EU.
Supreme Court Judgement on the Prorogation of Parliament
Publish date: 24/09/2019
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled the prorogation unlawful and void holding it was done to frustrate or prevent the ability of parliament to carry out its functions without reasonable justification. The court held prorogation was not a proceeding in parliament under the Bill of Rights and stated the court certainly could declare therefore that the advice was unlawful. The judgement said the court was 'bound to conclude' there was no reasonable justification.

Blog

29 November 2019

Publish date: 29/11/2019

CIL Regulation 122(2A)

When the most recent CIL Amendment Regulations entered the statute books in September, most of the column inches published focused on the removal of pooling restrictions (one of 2015's most thorny issues) and the replacement of Regulation 123 Lists with 'Annual Infrastructure Statements'.

A new feature introduced by the 2019 amendments garnering less publicity appeared at Regulation 10 which finally put a local planning authority's entitlement to claim costs associated with monitoring compliance with planning obligations on a statutory footing.

The amendments, inserted into the 2010 Regulations as Regulation 122(2A), provide that fees associated with monitoring and reporting on planning obligations given by developers and landowners are capable of being charged through section 106 agreements provided that they 'fairly and reasonable related in scale and kind to the development' and do 'not exceed the authority's estimate of its cost of monitoring the development over the lifetime of the planning obligations which relate to that development'.

Monitoring fees have been around for some time (usually appearing at the front end of any agreement alongside a requirement to pay the local planning authority's legal fees) and their imposition was challenged back in 2015 in Oxfordshire ([2015] EWHC 186 Admin), where the High Court found that they were not 'necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms' and were not therefore planning obligations meeting the requirements of the test in the version of Regulation 122 in force prior to September.

The decision in Oxfordshire has been subject to mixed judicial treatment and Regulation 122(2A) resolves any ambiguity.

Bringing the monitoring costs test in line with those relevant to imposition of planning obligations makes sense. It does, however, limit what had been for some LPAs a healthy income stream. Prior to September, the position had been that monitoring costs were not to be considered when determining whether to grant planning consent. Developers would accuse authorities of imposing monitoring costs arbitrarily, whilst authorities would argue that the job of ensuring developers were sticking to what they had agreed by way of planning obligation is a lengthy and frustrating process.

The amendments make it clear to both sides that monitoring costs must always be fair and reasonable. Will the amendments provide a new ground for legal challenge? Will LPAs need to publish schedules showing how monitoring costs are incurred? Just how this impacts upon the level of fee being imposed remains to be seen.

David Mathias

Partner

SHOOSMITHS LLP