Category: Local Government

Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council: TCC 12 Apr 2013

Application for compensation under s.106 of the Building Act 1984 for compensation as a result of the Council exercising its powers to prevent access to Hastings Pier under s.78 of the 1984 Act.
Held: The court rejected the defence, holding that the reference to ‘default’ should be read as default in respect of obligations imposed by the 1984 Act itself: ‘If that is not so and if it were necessary to see whether a party was in breach of any provision of other statutes, as is submitted here, then the scope of enquiry would be large and would require investigation of further factual matters to determine whether there was a default in terms of those statutes.’

Ramsey J
[20131 EWHC 842 (TCC), [2013] BLR 361, [2013] RVR 241, [2013] 2 EGLR 17
Bailii
Building Act 1984, Occupiers Liability Act 1957
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Lingke v Christchurch Corporation CA 1912
The householder sought compensation under the Act, for the disturbance in the laying of a drain in the highway abutting the claimant’s house and furniture shop. Because of the constraints of the work site, excavated soil had been thrown up against . .
Cited – Hobbs v Winchester Corporation CA 18-Jun-1910
Meat had been seized under section 116 of the 1875 Act as unfit for human consumption. Although the butcher was acquitted of any offence under section 117 of that Act, on the grounds that he was unaware that it was unfit for consumption, it was . .
Cited – Neath Rural District Council v Williams QBD 1951
A watercourse became silted by natural causes and the local authority served an abatement notice on the landowner, who failed to respond, and when prosecuted relied on a proviso which excluded from liability ‘any person other than the person by . .
Cited – Granada Theatres Ltd v Freehold Investment (Leytonstone) Ltd CA 23-Mar-1959
The tenant claimed that the landlord had failed in its obligations of repair undertaken in the lease.
Held: Where the landlord was in default, a tenant may have a right to undertake the repairs itself, recovering the costs.
Jenkins LJ . .
Cited – Leonidis v Thames Water Authority 1979
Access to the plaintiff’s motor repair business was interfered with by work to reconstruct a sewer. Whilst access was still possible it required a long detour and there was no physical interference with the entrance to the premises.
Held: If a . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another v Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council SC 6-Apr-2011
The land-owner had planning permission to erect a barn, conditional on its use for agricultural purposes. He built inside it a house and lived there from 2002. In 2006. He then applied for a certificate of lawful use. The inspector allowed it, and . .

Cited by:
At TCC – Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council CA 7-May-2014
The claimants appealed from rejection of their claim to compensation under the 1984 Act as tenants of a pier closed by the Authority. The Authority said that it had failed to comply with its leasehold obligations of repair, and was in default under . .
At TCC – Hastings Borough Council v Manolete Partners Plc SC 27-Jul-2016
The council appealed against the decision that it is liable to pay compensation under section 106 of the Building Act 1984, for loss to a business on Hastings Pier arising from its closure during 2006 under the council’s emergency powers. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Construction, Local Government

Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.472588

Branwood, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government: Admn 26 Apr 2013

This case concerns a Local Council Tax Support scheme and adherence by a local council to the duty to consult and the public sector equality duty.

Haddon-Cave J
[2013] EWHC 1024 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government, Rating

Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.523761

AK, (A Child), Regina (on The Application of) v The London Borough of Islington and Another: Admn 16 Feb 2021

Claim by AK against the London Borough of Islington (Children Services Department) and the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group alleging that the defendants failed to adequately assess and plan for her needs following her discharge from hospital pursuant to s.117 of the Mental Health Act 1983

His Honour Judge Lickley QC Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
[2021] EWHC 301 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government, Health

Updated: 13 January 2022; Ref: scu.658622

Swindon Borough Council v Webb (T/A Protective Coatings): CA 16 Mar 2016

The Council brought this unusual appeal pursuant to its powers as a General Enforcer under section 213 of the Enterprise Act 2002 to seek to restrain domestic infringements harmful to the collective interests of consumers.

Tomlinson, Lewison LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 152
Bailii
Enterprise Act 2002 213
England and Wales

Consumer, Local Government

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.561127

Wm Weir, Esq of Waygateshaw v Arthur Naismith, John Syme, Charles Hamilton, Wm Cullen, Jas Hamilton, William Allan, and Others: HL 3 Mar 1743

At a time of famine, when meal was scarce, a riot took place in the burgh of Hamilton, whereby the appellant’s granaries were broken into, and his meal carried off: Held the magistrates, William Cullen and Charles Hamilton, not liable to make good the damages, having not had any accession to, or connivance with, the rioters, but having done all in their power to prevent it: reversed in the House of Lords, and held them liable as having failed and neglected to perform their duty, and connived at the said riot. Also held William Allan and some others liable as having taken a part in the riot. Quoad ultra affirmed.

[1743] UKHL 6 – Paton – 678, (1743) 6 Paton 678
Bailii
Scotland

Local Government, Crime

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.556796

Gibson v East Riding of Yorkshire District Council: EAT 3 Feb 1999

The Working Time Directive has direct application in the employment by an emanation of the state – a local authority, and an hourly paid part timer was entitled to four weeks paid holiday by the direct effect application of the Directive, and irrespective of any ambiguity or deficit in the implementing regulations.

Times 12-Feb-1999, Gazette 31-Mar-1999, [1999] UKEAT 526 – 98 – 0302
Bailii
Working Time Directive 93/104/EC OJ 1993 L307/18
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Gibson v East Riding Yorkshire Council EAT 3-Jul-1998
. .

Cited by:
Appeal from – East Riding of Yorkshire Council v Lorraine Gibson CA 21-Jun-2000
The European Directive which created rights for workers to minimum holidays, was not sufficiently precise to allow it to have direct effect, and so give rise to an individual’s right to sue an employer under its provisions directly. The Directive . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, European, Local Government

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.80815

Clift v Slough Borough Council and Another: QBD 6 Jul 2009

The claimant sought damages for defamation. The council had decided that she had threatened a member of staff and notified various people, and entered her name on a violent persons register. She alleged malice, the council pleaded justification and qualified privilege. She also complained of the breach of her data protection rights. She had been angry with a council official and admitted that she might have been violent to her if they had met.
Held: Several of the publications did attract qualified privilege, since the staff might possibly come in contact with the claimant, but not many others. The council owed no duty of care to some recipients, and the publication was disproportionate. The claim therefore succeeded in part.
The placing of the claimant on the register did engage her Article 8 rights. The claimant accepted that there was a legitimate aim, but that the path chosen was disproportionate. There was no risk to people working in departments which the claimant had no reason to be in contact with. A publication could be excessive either when published to someone to whom no duty was owed, or where the necessary relationship between the parties is absent or secondly where the publication incorporates irrelevant information that is not necessary for the performance of the particular duty or the protection of the particular interest upon which the privilege is founded.

Tugendhat J
[2009] EWHC 1550 (QB)
Bailii
Data Protection Act 1998, European Convention on Human Rights, Human Rights Act 1998 6(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Wood v West Midlands Police QBD 8-Dec-2003
The claimant’s busness partner had been investigated by the police. He claimed in defamation after a senior officer circulated business associates and others informing them of the prosecution and suggesting the partners’s guilt. He said he was . .
Cited – Wood v Chief Constable West Midlands Police CA 8-Dec-2004
The claimant was a director of a limited company. A Detective Chief Inspector with responsibility for crime prevention was investigating a series of car thefts and arrested the claimant’s business partner and, before the accused had even stood his . .
Cited – W v Westminster City Council and Others QBD 9-Dec-2004
The claimant sought to bring an action for defamation based upon communications made in a child protection conference. The reference was in a Report for Conference to be held pursuant to the duties imposed on local authorities by the Children Act . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of North Wales Police and Others Ex Parte Thorpe and Another; Regina v Chief Constable for North Wales Police Area and others ex parte AB and CB CA 18-Mar-1998
Public Identification of Pedophiles by Police
AB and CB had been released from prison after serving sentences for sexual assaults on children. They were thought still to be dangerous. They moved about the country to escape identification, and came to be staying on a campsite. The police sought . .
Cited – X and Y v The Netherlands ECHR 26-Mar-1985
A parent complained to the police about a sexual assault on his daughter a mentally defective girl of 16. The prosecutor’s office decided not to prosecute provided the accused did not repeat the offence. X appealed against the decision and requested . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of North Wales Police and Others Ex Parte Thorpe and Another; Regina v Chief Constable for North Wales Police Area and others ex parte AB and CB CA 18-Mar-1998
Public Identification of Pedophiles by Police
AB and CB had been released from prison after serving sentences for sexual assaults on children. They were thought still to be dangerous. They moved about the country to escape identification, and came to be staying on a campsite. The police sought . .
Cited – Kearns and Others v The General Council of the Bar CA 17-Mar-2003
The claimants had sought to recover from the General Council of the Bar damages for libel in a communication from the head of the Bar Council’s Professional Standards and Legal Services Department to all heads of chambers, their senior clerks and . .
Cited – W v JH and Another QBD 5-Mar-2008
The claimant had been an employee of the defendant council. A complaint had been made about his conduct in 1993 and 1994. A disciplinary hearing had been held and the claimant was issued with a final warning to be placed on his file. The . .
Cited – Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 21-Mar-2007
Appellate Roles – Human Rights – Families Split
The House considered the decision making role of immigration appellate authorities when deciding appeals on Human Rights grounds, against refusal of leave to enter or remain, under section 65. In each case the asylum applicant had had his own . .
Cited – Downtex v Flatley CA 2-Oct-2003
The claimants sought damages for defamation and breach of contract. The claimants had purchased a business from the defendant, which contract included a clause requiring the defendant to say nothing damaging about the business. The defendant . .
Cited – Greene v Associated Newspapers Ltd CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant appealed against refusal of an order restraining publication by the respondent of an article about her. She said that it was based upon an email falsely attributed to her.
Held: ‘in an action for defamation a court will not impose . .
Cited – In re S (a Child) (Identification: Restrictions on Publication) HL 28-Oct-2004
Inherent High Court power may restrain Publicity
The claimant child’s mother was to be tried for the murder of his brother by poisoning with salt. It was feared that the publicity which would normally attend a trial, would be damaging to S, and an application was made for reporting restrictions to . .
Cited – Toogood v Spyring 1834
Qualified Privilege of Bona Fide Words Under Duty
The defence of qualified privilege arises where the statement in question was bona fide and without malicious intent to injure: ‘In general, an action lies for the malicious publication of statements which are false in fact, and injurious to the . .
Cited – Coxhead v Richards 31-Jan-1846
A complaint was made as to a warning of suspected misconduct of ship’s captain communicated to a shipowner. It did not involve a risk to the life of those on board, but the court considered what the position might have been if it had. Cresswell J . .
Cited – Bowen v Hall 1881
The law of libel does not provide for declarations of falsity: ‘It is better for the general good that individuals should occasionally suffer than that freedom of communication between persons in certain relations should be in any way impeded. But . . .
Cited – Stuart v Bell CA 1891
Lindley LJ suggested that a moral or social duty meant ‘a duty recognised by English people of ordinary intelligence and moral principle, but at the same time not a duty enforceable by legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal’.
The . .
Cited – Adam v Ward HL 1917
The plaintiff, Major Adam MP, falsely attacked General Scobell in a speech in the House of Commons, thus bringing his charge into the national arena. The Army Council investigated the charge, rejected it and directed their secretary, Sir E Ward, the . .
Cited – Spring v Guardian Assurance Plc and Others HL 7-Jul-1994
The plaintiff, who worked in financial services, complained of the terms of the reference given by his former employer. Having spoken of his behaviour towards members of the team, it went on: ‘his former superior has further stated he is a man of . .
Distinguished – Horrocks v Lowe HL 1974
The plaintiff complained of an alleged slander spoken at a meeting of the Town Council. The council meeting was an occasion attracting qualified privilege. The judge at trial found that the councillor honestly believed that what he had said in the . .
Cited – Loutchansky v The Times Newspapers Ltd and Others (Nos 2 to 5) CA 5-Dec-2001
Two actions for defamation were brought by the claimant against the defendant. The publication reported in detail allegations made against the claimant of criminal activities including money-laundering on a vast scale. They admitted the defamatory . .

Cited by:
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd CA 13-Jul-2010
The claimant police officer complained of an article he said was defamatory in saying he was being investigated for allegations of accepting bribes. The article remained on the internet even after he was cleared. Each party appealed interim orders. . .
Cited – Clift v Slough Borough Council CA 21-Dec-2010
The court was asked how, if at all, the Human Rights Act 1998 has affected a local authority’s defence of qualified privilege in defamation cases. The claimant had been placed on the Council’s Violent Persons Register after becoming very upset and . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Information, Local Government, Human Rights

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.347445

Edwards and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Birmingham City Council: Admn 8 Feb 2016

‘Each of the Claimants made an application to the Council for housing as a homeless person. They each claim that the manner in which the Council dealt with his or her application was unlawful; and, further, that that manner reflected systemic failings. They say that the Council, advertently or inadvertently, both in their own specific cases and generally, discourage and divert applications so that individuals are denied their statutory rights to have their situation properly inquired into and be given interim accommodation whilst those inquiries are being made.’

Hickinbottom J
[2016] EWHC 173 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Housing, Local Government

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.559672

MM, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Hounslow: Admn 18 Dec 2015

In this claim for judicial review, it is alleged that Hounslow failed to produce a lawful assessment of MM’s needs, and to the extent that Hounslow’s assessment lawfully identified MM’s needs and those of his mother as his carer, it is said that Hounslow failed to make adequate provision for how those needs were to be met.

Sir Brian Keith
[2015] EWHC 3731 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.557375

Isle of Wight Council and Others v HM Revenue and Customs: CA 16 Dec 2015

The court was asked as to the issue of principle whether a local authority which charges members of the public for off-street car parking is a non-taxable person for VAT purposes. This turns on whether treating the authority as a non-taxable person ‘would lead to significant distortions of competition’ within the meaning of Article 4.5(2) of the Sixth Council Directive of 17 May 1977 (77/388/EEC).

Sir Terence Etherton Ch, Underhill, David Richards LJJ
[2015] EWCA Civ 1303, [2015] WLR(D) 531
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales

Local Government, VAT, European

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.557084

Bedford Land Investments Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Transport and Another: Admn 3 Nov 2015

Application for judicial review of a decision by the defendant in a decision letter dated 3 December 2013 to refuse the claimant’s application for an award of costs against the interested party (IP). The costs relate to the claimant’s abortive expenditure in objecting to a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and Side Roads Order (SRO) which the IP had made but subsequently withdrew.

Patterson DBE J
[2015] EWHC 3159 (Admin)
Bailii

Land, Local Government

Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.554286

Regina (Webster) v Swindon Local Safeguarding Children Board: Admn 22 Oct 2009

The claimant sought judicial review of a decision by the defendant board to await the outcome of civil proceedings before commencing a serious case review of the authority’s handling of an attack on the claimant while at school.
Held: The procedure adopted would introduce inevitable and substantial delay in such investigations which would in turn deprive the review of any practical value. Review granted.

Kenneth Parker J
[2009] EWHC 2755 (Admin), Times 06-Nov-2009
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.377734

The Queen v Charles Tatham: 28 Jan 1858

Under the Nuisances Removal Act for England, 1865 (18 and 19 Vict. c. 181), the Local Authority in a district who have rendered innocuous a drain passing through their district, conveying away the filth of houses in a higher district, have no power to assess the owners of those houses for payment of the expences, though those houses use this drain. The power of assessment of a local authority is confined to property within the district for which they act.

[1858] EngR 287, (1858) 8 El and Bl 915, (1858) 120 ER 342
Commonlii
England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 03 January 2022; Ref: scu.288758

Hunt v North Somerset Council: SC 22 Jul 2015

The appellant had sought judicial review of a decision of the respondent to approve a Revenue Budget for 2012/13 as to the provision of youth services. He applied for declarations that the respondent had failed to comply with section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and section 507B of the Education Act 1996 and for an order quashing the decision to approve the budget.
Held: Where a court finds for a claimant on the substantive elements and refuses a remedy for the sole reason that it was too late to reverse the decision (here the adoption of the budget for a financial year which had expired) the court should look at the claimant as a successful party when considering the award of costs.
As to the costs appeal: ‘the Court of Appeal said that it reached its decision as a matter of principle, treating the respondent as the ‘successful party’. In adopting that approach, I consider that the court fell into error. The rejection of the respondent’s case on the two issues on which the appellant was given leave to appeal was of greater significance than merely that the respondent had increased the costs of the appeal by its unsuccessful resistance. The respondent was ‘successful’ only in the limited sense that the findings of failure came too late to do anything about what had happened in the past, not because the appellant had been slow to raise them but because the respondent had resisted them successfully until the Court of Appeal gave its judgment. The respondent was unsuccessful on the substantive issues regarding its statutory responsibilities.’

Baroness Hale of Richmond DPSC, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson JJSC
[2015] UKSC 51, [2015] WLR(D) 331, UKSC 2014/0023
Bailii, Bailii Summary, WLRD, SC, SC Summary
Equality Act 2010 149, Education Act 1996 507B
England and Wales
Citing:
At First Instance – Hunt v North Somerset Council Admn 18-Jul-2012
The claimant who required support from the Council for his ADHD disorder challenged the respondent’s budget insofar as it limited support for children’s services in the Revenue Budget. Ge said that in making its decision to cut the budget, the . .
Appeal from – Hunt, Regina (on The Application of) v North Somerset Council CA 6-Nov-2013
Appeal against an order dismissing the challenge by the appellant, to the lawfulness of the decision of the respondent, the Council to cut its Youth Services budget for the year 2012/2013. The claimant suffered ADHD and relied on services supported . .
Costs at CA – Hunt, Regina (on The Application of) v North Somerset Council CA 21-Nov-2013
Reasons for costs order made on failure of the claimant’s applications.
Held: The respondent should be entitled to recover half of its costs of the appeal. Rimer LJ said that by the time that the appeal came on for hearing, it was far too late . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Education, Judicial Review, Costs

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.550392

IM Properties Development Ltd v Lichfield District Council and Others: Admn 20 Jul 2015

Application to quash local plan alleging: ‘ (1) the planning inspector appointed to conduct the examination into the local plan erred in failing to determine whether the Council’s sustainability appraisal complied with the relevant legal and procedural requirements; (2) the sustainability appraisal and the process of consideration of alternatives by the Council and the planning inspector were legally flawed and unfair; (3) the planning inspector adopted the wrong approach when considering whether it was appropriate to alter the green belt boundaries by releasing the Deanslade Farm and Cricket Lane sites for housing; and (4) the Council had no power to adopt the local plan with the main modifications proposed in respect of the green belt sites, since this departed fundamentally from the spatial strategy it originally set out. ‘

Cranston J
[2015] EWHC 2077 (Admin), [2015] WLR(D) 328
Bailii, WLRD
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 113(3)
England and Wales

Planning, Local Government

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.550379

Cunningham, Regina (on The Application of) v Hertfordshire County Council and Another: Admn 8 Jul 2015

The Claimant challenges the failure of the Defendant local authority to provide her with support in her care of a looked after child, namely her grandson, R, in breach of its duty so to do under sections 20-23 of the Children Act 1989.

Kickinbottom J
[2015] EWHC 1936 (Admin)
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20 21 22 23

Children, Local Government

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.550017

Cornwall Council, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Somerset County Council: SC 8 Jul 2015

PH had severe physical and learning disabilities and was without speech, lacking capacity to decide for himself where to live. Since the age of four he received accommodation and support at public expense. Until his majority in December 2004, he was living with foster parents in South Gloucestershire. He then lived in two care homes in the Somerset area. There was no dispute about his entitlement to that support, initially under the Children Act 1989, and since his majority under the National Assistance Act 1948. The issue was which authority should be responsible?
Held: The appeal was allowed (Wilson L dissenting). The decision-maker’s reasons for selecting Cornwall cannot be supported. The writer started, not from an assessment of the duration and quality of PH’s actual residence in any of the competing areas, but from an attempt to ascertain his ‘base’, by reference to his relationships with those concerned. In deciding what was the ordinary residence of an adult without mental capacity to allow a decision as to where he might live, the test was not whether because of incapacity he was to be treated as might a child and that his ordinary residence was that of his parents, despite his only occasional visits with them.

Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson
[2015 UKSC 46, [2015] WLR(D) 298, [2015] BLGR 503, [2015] HLR 32, [2015] 3 FCR 347, [2016] AC 137, (2015) 18 CCL Rep 497, [2015] 3 WLR 213, (2015) 145 BMLR 1, UKSC 2014/0092, UKSC 2014/0109
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
Children Act 1989, National Assistance Act 1948 21, Ordinary Residence Disputes (National Assistance Act 1948) Directions 2010
England and Wales
Citing:
At first Instance – Cornwall Council, Regina (on The Application of) v Wiltshire Council and Others Admn 21-Dec-2012
Dispute as to which council had obligation to support a young disabled man. . .
Appeal from – Cornwall Council, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Others CA 18-Feb-2014
The court considered how local authorities were to decide whether a citizen due to receive certain kinds of assistance was resident in or had the closest connection with a particular authority. In this particular case the issue arose in respect of a . .
Cited – In re P (GE) (An infant) CA 1965
A stateless child was taken by his father away from the mother in England to Israel.
Held: The wardship jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery extended to any child ‘ordinarily resident’ in this country. An infant of British nationality whether . .
Cited – Regina v Barnet London Borough Council, Ex parte Shah HL 16-Dec-1982
The five applicants had lived in the UK for at least three years while attending school or college. All five were subject to immigration control, four had entered as students with limited leave to remain for the duration of their studies, and the . .
Cited – Regina v Waltham Forest, Ex parte Vale 11-Feb-1985
The court had to decide what was the ordinary reference under the 1948 of an adult without capacity. V had been in residential care in Ireland for over 20 years, but having left there had been with her mother for two weeks. The parties argued the . .
Cited – Mohamed v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1-Nov-2001
Mrs M came to England in 1994 living first in Ealing and then Hammersmith. Mr M came later and lived elsewhere in Hammersmith. Hammersmith gave them jointly temporary accommodation, first in a hotel and then in a flat. They then applied under . .
Cited – Hertfordshire County Council, Regina (on The Application of) v JM CA 15-Feb-2011
The court was asked which local authority had responsibility to provide support to a patient on his discharge after a period of detention under section 3 of the 1983 Act. . .
Cited – A v A and another (Children) (Children: Habitual Residence) (Reunite International Child Abduction Centre intervening) SC 9-Sep-2013
Acquisition of Habitual Residence
Habitual residence can in principle be lost and another habitual residence acquired on the same day.
Held: The provisions giving the courts of a member state jurisdiction also apply where there is an alternative jurisdiction in a non-member . .
Cited – Inland Revenue v Cadwalader 1904
An American citizen, with his ordinary residence and indeed practising the law in New York, took a three-year lease of a furnished shooting lodge in Scotland. He resided at the shooting lodge for a period of two months in each year during the . .
Cited – Levene v Inland Revenue Commissioners HL 1928
Until 1919 Mr. Levene had been both resident and ordinarily resident in the UK. Then, for five years he spent about five months (mainly in the summer) each year, staying in hotels in the UK and receiving medical attention or pursuing religious and . .
Cited – Inland Revenue Commissioners v Lysaght HL 1928
The taxpayer, who was living in Ireland would come regularly to England for a total of less than three months a year, and would spend a week or so in a hotel for the purpose of board meetings. The House considered the meaning of the requirement of . .
Cited – In re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation) HL 4-May-1989
Where a patient lacks capacity, there is the power to provide him with whatever treatment or care is necessary in his own best interests. Medical treatment can be undertaken in an emergency even if, through a lack of capacity, no consent had been . .
Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Benefits, Local Government

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.549905

Kay and Another v London Borough of Lambeth and others; Leeds City Council v Price and others and others: HL 8 Mar 2006

In each case the local authority sought to recover possession of its own land. In the Lambeth case, they asserted this right as against an overstaying former tenant, and in the Leeds case as against gypsies. In each case the occupiers said that the recovery of possession interfered with their right respect for their family life.
Held: Article 8 could not be invoked by an occupier of a residential property in support of his case against his landlord’s claim for possession, because domestic law had already taken into account, and balanced, the public interest in a public authority landlord obtaining possession and the tenant’s right to respect for his home.
The House considered apparent conflicts between its own jurisprudence in Qazi, and that of the European Court of Human Rights.
Leeds CC sought possession of land occupied by gypsies without plannng permission, and the occupiers said that their right to family life had been infringed. The council said its right to possession was absolute. The authority’s right to reclaim the land was absolute in accordance with domestic property law, save only that the occupier must be given opportunity to present any art 8 defence which it for the occupier to raise through court proceedings. The recreation ground had not become the appellants’ home within article 8.
Lord Bingham emphasised the importance and value of adhering to precedent in the interests of certainty and clarity. This meant that our domestic rules of precedent should apply, even in the Convention context.
In the second appeal, tenancies had been purported to be granted when the purported landlord was merely a licensee and did not have a sufficient legal interest to create a legal estate: ‘the courts below should have held the premises in question to be the homes of the respective appellants and should have held their eviction or proposed eviction to be an interference with their exercise of their right to respect for their homes within the meaning of article 8(2). Their defences should not have been struck out save on the basis that nothing sufficient was pleaded to support them. ‘
Lord Hope of Craighead: ‘a defence which does not challenge the law under which the possession order is sought as being incompatible with the article 8 but is based only on the occupier’s personal circumstances should be struck out.’ The reasoning in the Qazi case need not not be departed from to accommodate the European jurisprudence.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls Of Birkenhead, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
[2006] UKHL 10, Times 10-Mar-2006, [2006] 2 WLR 570, [2006] 2 AC 465
Bailii
Homelessness Act 2002, Race Relations Act 1976;, European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – London Borough of Harrow v Qazi HL 31-Jul-2003
The applicant had held a joint tenancy of the respondent. His partner gave notice and left, and the property was taken into possession. The claimant claimed restoration of his tenancy saying the order did not respect his right to a private life and . .
Appeal from – Kay, Gorman, etc v London Borough of Lambeth, London and Quadrant Housing Trust CA 20-Jul-2004
The defendant local authority had licenced houses to a housing trust, which in turn granted sub-licences to the claimants who were applicants for housing under homelessness provisions, and who now asserted that they became secure tenants of the . .
Cited – Connors v The United Kingdom ECHR 27-May-2004
The applicant gypsies had initially been permitted to locate their caravan on a piece of land owned by a local authority, but their right of occupation was brought to an end because the local authority considered that they were committing a . .
Cited – S v United Kingdom ECHR 1986
The applicant was not entitled in domestic law to succeed to a tenancy on the death of her partner. The aim of the legislation is question was to protect the family, a goal similar to the protection of the right to respect for family life guaranteed . .
Cited – Regina v Boyd, Hastie, Spear (Courts Martial Appeal Court), Regina v Saunby, Clarkson, English, Williams, Dodds, and others HL 18-Jul-2002
Corts Martial System Complant with Human Rights
The applicants were each convicted by courts martial of offences under civil law. They claimed that the courts martial were not independent tribunals because of the position of the president of the court, and that it was wrong to try a serviceman by . .
Cited – Blecic v Croatia ECHR 29-Jul-2004
The applicant had for many years before 1992 had a protected tenancy of a publicly-owned flat in Zadar. Under Croatian law a specially-protected tenancy might be terminated if the tenant ceased to occupy the flat for a continuous period of six . .
Appeal from – Price and others v Leeds City Council CA 16-Mar-2005
The defendant gypsies had moved their caravans onto land belonging to the respondents without planning permission. They appealed an order to leave saying that the order infringed their rights to respect for family life.
Held: There had been . .
Cited – Ure v United Kingdom ECHR 27-Nov-1996
The applicant’s tenancy came to an end on expiry of a notice to quit given by his wife, formerly a joint tenant with him, and possession was ordered. The Commission held that his complaint under article 8 was manifestly ill-founded because the . .
Cited – O’Rourke v United Kingdom ECHR 26-Jun-2001
The applicant was a sex offender who on release from prison had found temporary accommodation from which he had been evicted for pestering female residents. He ignored advice to go to a night shelter whilst a decision on permanent re-housing was . .
Cited – Marzari v Italy ECHR 1999
The applicant suffered from metabolic myopathy and was 100 per cent disabled. He was allocated an apartment which he considered inadequate. He ceased paying rent for it, demanding that certain works be carried out to make it suitable for him to live . .
Cited – Buckley v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Sep-1996
The Commission had concluded, by a narrow majority, that the measures taken by the respondent in refusing planning permission and enforcing planning orders were excessive and disproportionate, even allowing a margin of appreciation enjoyed by the . .
Cited – Regina v Huntingdon District Council, Ex parte Cowan QBD 1984
The plaintiff sought judicial review of a refusal of a local authority to grant a liquor licence and a music and dancing licence. Review was sought despite a right of appeal to the Magistrates Court.
Held: If other means of redress are . .
Cited – Wandsworth London Borough Council v Winder HL 1985
Rent demands were made by a local authority landlord on one of its tenants. The local authority, using its powers under the Act, resolved to increase rents generally. The tenant refused to pay the increased element of the rent. He argued that the . .
Cited – McLellan v Bracknell Forest Borough Council; Reigate Borough Council v Benfield and Another CA 16-Oct-2001
The tenant was issued with a notice to quit for unpaid rent, within the first year, during an ‘introductory tenancy.’ She sought judicial review on the basis that the reduced security of tenure infringed her human rights.
Held: Review was . .
Cited – Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association Ltd v Donoghue CA 27-Apr-2001
The defendant resisted accelerated possession proceedings brought for rent arrears under his assured shorthold tenancy, by a private housing association who was a successor to a public authority.
Held: Once the human rights issue was raised, . .
Cited – Mabey v United Kingdom ECHR 1996
A claimant must show a sufficient and continuing link with a place in order to establish that it is his home for purposes of article 8. . .
Cited – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Cited – Smart v Sheffield City Council: Central Sunderland Housing Company Limited v Wilson CA 25-Jan-2002
Each tenant had become unintentionally homeless, and was granted a non-secure tenancy of accommodation under section 193. Complaints of nuisance were received from neighbours. Possession orders were obtained and now challenged under the Human Rights . .
Cited – Michalak v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 6-Mar-2002
The appellant had occupied for a long time a room in a house let by the authority. After the death of the tenant, the appellant sought, but was refused, a statutory tenancy. He claimed to be a member of the tenant’s family, and that the list of . .
Cited – London Street Tramways v London County Council HL 25-Apr-1898
House Decisions binding on Itself
The House laid down principles for the doctrine of precedent. When faced with the hypothesis that a case might have been decided in ignorance of the existence of some relevant statutory provision or in reliance on some statutory provision which was . .
Cited – Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) HL 1966
The House gave guidance how it would treat an invitation to depart from a previous decision of the House. Such a course was possible, but the direction was not an ‘open sesame’ for a differently constituted committee to prefer their views to those . .
Cited – Cassell and Co Ltd v Broome and Another HL 23-Feb-1972
Exemplary Damages Award in Defamation
The plaintiff had been awarded damages for defamation. The defendants pleaded justification. Before the trial the plaintiff gave notice that he wanted additional, exemplary, damages. The trial judge said that such a claim had to have been pleaded. . .
Cited – McPhail v Persons, Names Unknown CA 1973
The court was asked to make an order against persons unknown in order to recover land. Although an owner of land which was being occupied by squatters was entitled to take the remedy into his own hand, he was encouraged to go to a common law court . .
Cited – Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley, Warwickshire v Wallbank and another HL 26-Jun-2003
Parish Councils are Hybrid Public Authorities
The owners of glebe land were called upon as lay rectors to contribute to the cost of repairs to the local church. They argued that the claim was unlawful by section 6 of the 1998 Act as an act by a public authority incompatible with a Convention . .
Cited – Gillow v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Nov-1986
The housing authority in Guernsey refused to allow the applicants to occupy the house they owned there.
Held: The house in question was the applicants’ home because, although they had been absent from Guernsey for many years, they had not . .
Cited – P v United Kingdom ECHR 12-Dec-1990
The applicants had been evicted, following the service of a notice to quit, from a caravan site where they had lived for many years. The respondent admitted that the eviction constituted an interference with the applicants’ right to respect for . .
Cited – Mellor v Watkins 1874
Allen held a yearly tenancy of premises subject to a yearly sub-tenancy of part. The sub-tenancy was afterwards acquired by the defendant. Allen surrendered his tenancy to the freeholder who re-let the premises to the plaintiff. Neither the tenancy . .
Cited – Pennell v Payne CA 1995
The operation of the break clause in a lease will (in the absence of provision to the contrary) have the effect of terminating not just the lease but also the underlease, and any inferior sub-tenancies. . .
Cited – Fitzleet Estates Ltd v Cherry HL 9-Nov-1977
Income tax – Schedule D, Cases III and VI – Payments of interest and ground rent incurred when property was being developed – Whether capitalised or paid out of profits or gains brought into charge to tax – Income Tax Act 1952 (15 and 16 Geo. 6 and . .
Cited – James Casey and others v Crawley Borough Council Admn 1-Mar-2006
The range of considerations which any public authority should take into account in deciding whether to invoke its powers can be very wide. . .
Cited – Di Palma v United Kingdom ECHR 1-Dec-1986
(Commission/admissibility) The applicant’s lease was forfeited on her non-payment of a service charge and possession was ordered. Her primary claim was made (unsuccessfully) under article 1 of the First Protocol to the Convention. But she also . .
Cited – Regina v Special Adjudicator ex parte Ullah; Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 17-Jun-2004
The applicants had had their requests for asylum refused. They complained that if they were removed from the UK, their article 3 rights would be infringed. If they were returned to Pakistan or Vietnam they would be persecuted for their religious . .
Cited – Larkos v Cyprus ECHR 18-Feb-1999
The applicant had rented a house from the government, but was ordered to vacate the house following revocation of his tenancy. Because he had been a tenant of the government he was not, under domestic law, entitled to the security which he would . .
Cited – Regina v Lincolnshire County Council Ex Parte Atkinson; Regina v Wealden District Council Ex Parte Wales and Others QBD 3-Oct-1995
A local Authority must make proper welfare enquiries before seeking to remove unlawful campers. The new draconic legislation must be seen in its context. The commons of England provided lawful stopping places for people whose way of life was or had . .
Cited – Ure v United Kingdom ECHR 27-Nov-1996
The applicant’s tenancy came to an end on expiry of a notice to quit given by his wife, formerly a joint tenant with him, and possession was ordered. The Commission held that his complaint under article 8 was manifestly ill-founded because the . .

Cited by:
Cited – Pirabakaran v Patel and Another CA 26-May-2006
The landlord had wanted possession. The tenant said that the landlord had been harassing him. The landlord said that the tenancy was a mixed residential and business tenancy and that the 1977 Act did not apply.
Held: The 1977 Act applied. A . .
Cited – Pirabakaran v Patel and Another CA 26-May-2006
The landlord had wanted possession. The tenant said that the landlord had been harassing him. The landlord said that the tenancy was a mixed residential and business tenancy and that the 1977 Act did not apply.
Held: The 1977 Act applied. A . .
Cited – C Plc and W v P and Secretary of State for the Home Office and the Attorney General ChD 26-May-2006
cplc_pChD2006
The claimant sought damages from the first defendant for breach of copyright. An ex parte search order had been executed, with the defendant asserting his privilege against self-incrimination. As computer disks were examined, potentially unlawful . .
Cited – Desnousse v London Borough of Newham and others CA 17-May-2006
The occupier had been granted a temporary licence by the authority under the homelessness provisions whilst it made its assessment. The assessment concluded that she had become homeless intentionally, and therefore terminated the licence and set out . .
Cited – Boyland and Son Ltd v Rand and Others CA 20-Dec-2006
The defendant squatters sought leave to appeal an order for immediate possession.
Held: (As citeable authority) MacPhail remained good law despite the passing of the 1980 Act, and an order for immediate possession was correct. . .
Cited – Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 21-Mar-2007
Appellate Roles – Human Rights – Families Split
The House considered the decision making role of immigration appellate authorities when deciding appeals on Human Rights grounds, against refusal of leave to enter or remain, under section 65. In each case the asylum applicant had had his own . .
Cited – C Plc v P and Attorney General Intervening CA 22-May-2007
The respondent had been subject to a civil search, which revealed the existence of obscene images of children on his computer. He appealed against refusal of an order that the evidence should not be passed to the police as evidence. He said that the . .
Cited – Buckley v Dalziel QBD 3-May-2007
There was a heated dispute between neighbours, culminating in some generous or perhaps over-generous pruning by the claimant of the defendant’s trees and shrubs on the boundaries. The defendants reported the matter to the police. Both Mr and Mrs . .
Cited – YL v Birmingham City Council and Others HL 20-Jun-2007
The House was asked whether a private care home when providing accommodation and care to a resident under arrangements with a local authority the 1948 Act, is performing ‘functions of a public nature’ for the purposes of section 6(3)(b) of the Human . .
Cited – Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council v Hensley CA 1-Nov-2007
The secure tenant was convicted of cultivating cannabis in the house. The council sought possession, and now appealed an order granting only possession suspended whilst the tenant complied with the terms of the tenancy agreement, seeking outright . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – Boyland and Son Ltd v Rand CA 20-Dec-2006
The defendant travellers occupied land belonging to the claimants. A possession order had been obtained, and the defendants now sought a reasonable time to be allowed to leave.
Held: The law had not changed, and section 89 could not be used to . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another QBD 29-Oct-2008
The applicant suffered mutiple sclerosis and considered that she might wish to go abroad to end her life. She asked the court to make more clear the guidance provided by the Director as to whether her partner might be prosecuted under section 2(1) . .
Cited – Ali v Birmingham City Council CA 7-Nov-2008
The Council said that it had discharged its duty to house the claimants after they had refused an offer of accommodation, and that decision had been reviewed. The claimant denied receiving a notice under the procedure. The court was asked whether . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another Admn 29-Oct-2008
The applicant said that the defendant had unlawfully failed to provide detailed guidance under section 10 of the 1985 Act, on the circumstances under which a prosecution might lie of a person performing acts which might assist another to commit . .
Cited – Knowsley Housing Trust v White; Honeygan-Green v London Borough of Islington; Porter v Shepherds Bush Housing Association HL 10-Dec-2008
The House considered situations where a secure or assured tenancy had been made subject to a suspended possession order and where despite the tenant failing to comply with the conditions, he had been allowed to continue in occupation.
Held: . .
Cited – Truro Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd v Foley CA 22-Oct-2008
The tenant appealed against a decision that a deed he had entered into with the claimant did not operate to give him the status of a protected or statutory tenancy.
Held: The tenant had had a full Rent Act tenancy. The Board claimed . .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions and others CA 19-Feb-2009
The claimant suffered a debilitating terminal disease. She anticipated going to commit suicide at a clinic in Switzerland, and wanted first a clear policy so that her husband who might accompany her would know whether he might be prosecuted under . .
Cited – McGlynn v Welwyn Hatfield District Council CA 1-Apr-2009
The appellant was a non-secure tenant of the respondent. It had served a notice to quit and he now appealed against an order for possession on public law grounds.
Held: There had been a delay between the issue of the notice to quit and the . .
See Also – Kay and others v Lambeth SCCO 2-Jan-2007
. .
Cited – Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 30-Jul-2009
Need for Certainty in Scope of Offence
The appellant suffered a severe chronic illness and anticipated that she might want to go to Switzerland to commit suicide. She would need her husband to accompany her, and sought an order requiring the respondent to provide clear guidelines on the . .
Cited – Central Bedfordshire Council v Housing Action Zone Ltd, Taylor and Others; Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intervening CA 23-Jun-2009
The authority had granted a lease to a housing society who had in turn granted the occupants’ leases. A successor then revoked the head lease. The occupiers appealed against possession orders, saying that they had come to acquire article 8 rights in . .
Cited – Barber v London Borough of Croydon CA 11-Feb-2010
The tenant who suffered learning and behavioural difficulties appealed against an order for possession of his council flat. He had become aggressive with the caretaker. The council sought possession, and he defended the claim saying that the council . .
Cited – Joseph v Nettleton Road Housing Co-Operative Ltd CA 16-Mar-2010
The respondent was a mutual housing co-operative, and the claimant its tenant. The tenant kept a dog in the premises without the consent of the other tenants in breach of the terms of the lease. A notice to quit was served on him. His tenancy was . .
Cited – Salford City Council v Mullen CA 30-Mar-2010
The court considered the status of decisions to commence proceedings for possession by local authorities against tenants not protected under any statutory scheme. The tenants, on introductory tenancies and under the homelessness regime, argued that . .
Mentioned – Valentines Homes and Construction Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v HM Revenue and Customs CA 31-Mar-2010
The claimant had applied for judicial review of a decision by the defendant to seek to recover a debt from them. The issue had however been settled in the County Court. Costs were ordered against them, and they now appealed. In a small company the . .
Cited – Coombes, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another Admn 8-Mar-2010
The landlord council brought proceedings for possession. The tenant (C) had remained in possession after his mother’s death, but enjoyed no second statutory succession. He had lived there since 1954 when he was six. C sought a declaration of . .
Cited – Hall and Others v Mayor of London (on Behalf of The Greater London Authority) CA 16-Jul-2010
The appellants sought leave to appeal against an order for possession of Parliament Square on which the claimants had been conducting a demonstration (‘the Democracy Village’).
Held: Leave was refused save for two appellants whose cases were . .
Cited – Regina (GC) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis; Regina (C) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Admn 16-Jul-2010
The claimants had each had biometric samples taken during police investigations, and now sought judicial review of the decision of the respondent not to remove those details from the Police National Computer, saying that in accordance with the . .
Cited – Manchester City Council v Pinnock SC 3-Nov-2010
The tenant had been secure but had his tenancy had been reduced to an insecure demoted tenancy after he was accused of anti-social behaviour. He had not himself been accused of any misbehaviour, but it was said that he should have controlled his . .
Cited – London Borough of Hounslow v Powell, Leeds City Council v Hall etc SC 23-Feb-2011
In each case the tenant occupied the property as his home, but was not a secure tenant of the local authority. The Court was asked whether, in granting a possession order in such a case, the court was obliged to consider the proportionality of the . .
Cited – Young, Regina (on The Application of) v Governor of Her Majesty’s Prison Highdown and Another Admn 6-Apr-2011
The claimant complained that he had not been considered for early release on Home Detention Curfew because the policy refused to allow those convicted of knife crimes to be so considered, and: ‘the failure to include other offences in the list of . .
Cited – Howarth v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 3-Nov-2011
howarth_cmpQBD2011
The claimant sought judicial review of a decision to search him whilst travelling to a public protest in London. A previous demonstration involving this group had resulted in criminal damage, but neither the claimant nor his companions were found to . .
Cited – Manchester City Council v Pinnock SC 9-Feb-2011
The council tenant had wished to appeal following a possession order made after her tenancy had been demoted. The court handed down a supplemental judgment to give effect to its earlier decision. The Court had been asked ‘whether article 8 of the . . .
Cited – Robinson, Regina (on The Application of) v HMP Whatton and Another Admn 4-Dec-2013
Two prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection sought judicial review of arrangements meaning that they had not been given a timely opportunity to demonstrate to the Parole Board that they are safe to be released. Their . .
Cited – Kaiyam, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Justice CA 9-Dec-2013
The court was asked as to claims arising from the continued detention of the appellants following the expiry of the ‘minimum terms’ or ‘tariff periods’ of their indeterminate terms of imprisonment. The appellant prisoners said that the respondent’s . .
Cited – Haney and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Justice SC 10-Dec-2014
The four claimants, each serving indeterminate prison sentences, said that as they approached the times when thy might apply for parol, they had been given insufficient support and training to meet the requirements for release. The courts below had . .
Cited – Akerman-Livingstone v Aster Communities Ltd SC 11-Mar-2015
Appeal about the proper approach of the courts where the defendant to a claim for possession of his home raises a defence of unlawful discrimination, contrary to the Equality Act 2010, by the claimant landlord. In particular, the issue is whether . .
Cited – Hallam, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice SC 30-Jan-2019
These appeals concern the statutory provisions governing the eligibility for compensation of persons convicted of a criminal offence where their conviction is subsequently quashed (or they are pardoned) because of the impact of fresh evidence. It . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Housing, Local Government, Constitutional

Leading Case

Updated: 01 January 2022; Ref: scu.238921

Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council: QBD 17 Jun 1994

A Local Authority’s guarantee for its own company was void, having been given for impermissible reasons.

Independent 17-Jun-1994
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council CA 20-May-1996
Builder’s Guarantee Ultra Vires LA
The council set out to provide a swimming pool using powers under s.19 of the 1976 Act. Purporting to use powers under s.111 of the 1972 Act, it set up a company to develop a site by building a leisure pool and time-share units, with a view to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Banking

Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.79618

Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council: CA 20 May 1996

Builder’s Guarantee Ultra Vires LA

The council set out to provide a swimming pool using powers under s.19 of the 1976 Act. Purporting to use powers under s.111 of the 1972 Act, it set up a company to develop a site by building a leisure pool and time-share units, with a view to selling the time-share units to pay for the cost of building the pool. The council gave a guarantee to help the company to finance the project, and on the strength of this the company obtained a facility from the bank. The sale of the time-share units proved unsatisfactory and the company went into liquidation. The bank sued the council under the guarantee to recover the sums owed to it by the company.
Held: The guarantee was ultra vires where it had been given to a company when the authority was acting outside it’s proper powers. Where a statutory corporation purports to enter into a contract which it is not empowered by the relevant statute to enter into, the corporation lacks the capacity to make the supposed contract. This lack of capacity means that the document and the agreement it contains do not have effect as a legal contract. It exists in fact but not in law. It is a legal nullity. The purported contract which is in truth not a contract does not confer any legal rights on either party. Neither party can sue on it. Any third party dealing with a local authority should be aware of that fact [of limited capacity and competence] and of the potential legal risk.
Hobhouse LJ said: ‘The discretion of the court in deciding whether to grant any remedy is wide one. It can take into account many considerations, including the needs of good administration, delay, the effect on third parties, and the utility of granting the relevant remedy.’

Hobhouse LJ
Times 20-May-1996, [1997] QB 306
Local Government Act 1972 111, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 819
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council QBD 17-Jun-1994
A Local Authority’s guarantee for its own company was void, having been given for impermissible reasons. . .
Applied – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
Identifying ‘maandatory’ and ‘regulatory’
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .

Cited by:
Cited – Stretch v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Jun-2003
The claimant had taken a lease of property from a local authority. Relying upon an option for renewal, he invested substantially in the property, but it was then decided that the option was ultra vires.
Held: Property rights protected under . .
Cited – Regina v Soneji and Bullen HL 21-Jul-2005
The defendants had had confiscation orders made against them. They had appealed on the basis that the orders were made more than six months after sentence. The prosecutor now appealed saying that the fact that the order were not timely did not . .
Cited – Kilby v Basildon District Council Admn 26-Jul-2006
Tenants complained that the authority landlord had purported to vary a clause in his secure tenancy agreement which gave certain management rights to tenants.
Held: The powers to let on secure tenancies were governed by statute. The clause . .
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Qasim and Others CA 20-Oct-2009
The council argued that the defendant was not a tenant granted to him as a secure tenancy since he had not been granted the tenancy in accordance with its policies. An employee had manipulated the Council’s system to grant tenancies to bypass the . .
Cited – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council SC 17-Dec-2018
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Local Government, Contract, Company, Banking

Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.79620

Clarke, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Sutton: Admn 23 Apr 2015

The claimant, a 27 year old with severe epilepsy and other mental health and behavioural difficulties had had living care support provided by Enfield. He then became ‘ordinarily resident’ in the defendant’s area and the defendant became responsible for his care. He now challenged the defendant’s decision not to continue to fund the specialist placement formerly funded by Enfield and as to the lawfulness of the assessment as to his needs.

Sycamore HHJ
[2015] EWHC 1081 (Admin)
Bailii

Local Government, Health

Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.545929

Heron Bros Ltd v Central Bedfordshire Council: TCC 20 Mar 2015

Application to strike out a claim on the ground that the claim form was not served within the prescribed time limit. The claim is a procurement challenge in which the Claimant claims damages and a declaration of ineffectiveness in respect of the award of a contract by the Defendant for the construction of a leisure centre in its area. The contract has been signed and construction is underway.
Held: Though bad in form the failings were properly to be cured by amendment.

Edwards-Stuart J
[2015] EWHC 604 (TCC), [2015] PTSR 1146, [2015] WLR(D) 137
Bailii, WLRD
Public Contracts Regulations 2006
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – Heron Bros Ltd v Central Bedfordshire Council (No 2) TCC 17-Apr-2015
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Construction, Local Government, Limitation

Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.544615

Worcestershire County Council -v- Secretary of State for Health and Social Care: CA 22 Dec 2021

dispute about which of two local authorities should pay for care services, in this case after-care services pursuant to s.117(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983

Lord Justice Coulson,
Lady Justice Carr,
And,
Lord Justice William Davis
[2021] EWCA Civ 1957
Bailii, Judiciary
England and Wales

Health, Local Government

Updated: 28 December 2021; Ref: scu.670716

Kent County Council, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Health and Others: CA 11 Feb 2015

The court was asked as to which of a number of local authorities should be responsible for funding the residential accommodation of a disabled adult pursuant to section 21 of the 1948 Act. In particular, it concerns the proper construction of section 24(5) which deems a person to be ordinarily resident in a local authority area when he is in fact ordinarily resident elsewhere.

Lord Dyson MR, Tomlinson, Burnett LJJ
[2015] EWCA Civ 81
Bailii
National Assistance Act 1948 21 24(5)
England and Wales

Local Government, Benefits

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542484

L and P v Warwickshire County Council: Admn 5 Feb 2015

The claimants are two disabled children complaining of a failure in the public law duty to consult, in that the defendant ‘acted unlawfully in failing to consult properly or at all on the cuts to funding for social care services for disabled children which it intends to introduce when the ‘local offer’ is approved.

Mostyn J
[2015] EWHC 203 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542271

Robson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Salford City Council: CA 20 Jan 2015

The appellants, all severely disabled appealed against the refusal of their judicial review of the substantial withdrawal by the Council of a service providing them with transport to local day care facilities. They said that the council had failed in its dutes to consider their individual cases, to consult properly, and in its public sector equality duty.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The individual users and carers at the heart of the present case had had their interests substantially protected by the individual assessment process, with the possibility of challenge to the resulting decisions if they are aggrieved by them. All but a small number of former users of the PTU service had been moved to different arrangements.
‘ In my judgment the Council did have due regard to the matters identified in section 149 in relation to the disabled adults potentially affected by the decision to close the PTU. That largely follows from the conclusions I have reached on the assessment issue and the consultation issue. Through the carrying out of individual transport assessments and a lawful consultation exercise, it had obtained sufficient information to discharge the duty of inquiry for the purposes of section 149.’

Richards, Treacy LJJ, Newey J
[2015] EWCA Civ 6
Bailii
Equality Act 2010 149
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Robson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Salford City Council Admn 23-Oct-2014
The claimants who all suffered disability complained of the withdrawal by the respondent of its Passenger Transport Unit, which had provided support to them in attending local day care facilities.
Held: The request for judicial review failed. . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Education and Science v Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council HL 21-Oct-1976
An authority investigating an application for registration of rights of common over land has an implied duty to ‘take reasonable steps to acquaint (itself) with the relevant information.’ A mere factual mistake has become a ground of judicial . .
Cited – Regina v Gloucestershire County Council and Another, Ex Parte Barry HL 21-Mar-1997
The House considered the need when assessing community care provision to include considerations of the cost and resources for care. The case concerned a question about the relevance of cost and arose in the context of a duty to make certain . .
Cited – Watkins-Singh, Regina (on the Application of) v The Governing Body of Aberdare Girls’ High School and Another Admn 29-Jul-2008
Miss Singh challenged her school’s policy which operated to prevent her wearing while at school a steel bangle, a Kara. She said this was part of her religion as a Sikh.
Held: Earlier comparable applications had been made under human rights . .
Cited – Moseley, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Haringey SC 29-Oct-2014
Consultation requirements
The claimant challenged a decision of the respondent reducing the benefits under the Council Tax Reduction Scheme reducing Council Tax for those in need, saying that the Council’s consultation had been inadequate.
Held: The consultation was . .
Cited – Bracking and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions CA 6-Nov-2013
Application for permission to appeal against refusal of leave to bring judicial review of decision by the respondent to close the Independent Living Fund.
Held: McCombe LJ summarised the application of section 149 of the 2010 Act: ‘1 . . . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Discrimination

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.541552

Re A (Withdrawal of Applications): FD 21 Mar 2019

‘whether I should permit the applicant local authority to withdraw its applications for female genital mutilation protection orders with respect to all five girls, for a forced marriage protection order with respect to A, and for orders pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction. ‘

The Honourable Mrs Justice Knowles DBE
[2019] EWHC 709 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 25 December 2021; Ref: scu.639736

Torbay Quality Care Forum Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Torbay Council: Admn 23 Dec 2014

An association of independent care home operators challenge by judicial review the decision of the Defendant local authority setting a ‘usual cost’ figure in respect of the costs of care.

Lambert HHJ
[2014] EWHC 4321 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Health Professions, Local Government

Updated: 24 December 2021; Ref: scu.540478

Bugg v Director of Public Prosecutions; Director of Public Prosecutions v Percy: QBD 1993

The defendants appealed against convictions for having entered military bases contrary to various bye-laws. They challenged the validity of the bye-laws.
Held: The validity of a bye-law could be challenged in criminal proceedings, but where the irregularity alleged was procedural, the bye-law remained effective until it was set aside in civil proceedings. Except in the ‘flagrant’ and ‘outrageous’ case a statutory order, such as a byelaw, remains effective until it is quashed. Byelaws which are on their face invalid or are patently unreasonable (termed ‘substantive’ invalidity) may be called in question by way of defence in criminal proceedings, whereas byelaws which are invalid because of some defect in the procedure by which they came to be made (termed ‘procedural’ invalidity) may not be called in question in such proceedings, so that a person might be convicted of an offence under them even if the byelaws were later quashed in other proceedings.

[1993] QB 473, [1993] 2 WLR 628
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Smith (Kathleen Rose) v East Elloe Rural District Council HL 26-Mar-1956
The plaintiff challenged a compulsory purchase order as unlawful and made in bad faith and sought damages for trespass. Paragraph 16 provided that an order could not be challenged by legal proceedings, save in the circumstances identified in . .
Cited – F Hoffmann La Roche and Co A G v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry HL 1975
No Indemnity for misadministration
The Secretary of State sought an interlocutory injunction under the Act to restrain the appellant from charging prices in excess of those fixed by a statutory instrument he had made. The appellant argued that the statutory instrument was ultra . .
Cited – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
Identifying ‘maandatory’ and ‘regulatory’
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .
See Also – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 13-Dec-1994
A woman protester repeatedly climbed over the perimeter fencing into a military base.
Held: The defendant had a choice between agreeing to be bound over and going to prison. Her refusal to agree to be bound over had an immediate and obvious . .

Cited by:
Overruled – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Doubted – Regina v Wicks HL 21-May-1997
Criminal proceedings, forming part of the general scheme of enforcement of planning control contained in Part VII of the Act, had been taken.
Held: The validity of a planning enforcement notice must be challenged in civil proceedings, not . .
See Also – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 13-Dec-1994
A woman protester repeatedly climbed over the perimeter fencing into a military base.
Held: The defendant had a choice between agreeing to be bound over and going to prison. Her refusal to agree to be bound over had an immediate and obvious . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Local Government, Constitutional

Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.187073

Robson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Salford City Council: Admn 23 Oct 2014

The claimants who all suffered disability complained of the withdrawal by the respondent of its Passenger Transport Unit, which had provided support to them in attending local day care facilities.
Held: The request for judicial review failed. Davies J described the statutory scheme: ‘It is common ground that the defendant is obliged under section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 and s.2 CDSPA [the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970], where it is satisfied that it is necessary in order to meet the welfare needs of eligible adults living in their area, to make arrangements for the provision of welfare services. Thus in this case the defendant has made arrangements for the claimants, and the other disabled adults affected by the decision, to attend adult day centres and social care respite centres.
It is also common ground that in such circumstances the defendant is also obliged under s.2(1)(d) CSDPA to ‘make arrangements for . . the provision . . of facilities for, or assistance in, travelling to and from his home for the purpose of participating in any services provided under arrangements made by the authority’.
The defendant submits, and the claimants accept, rightly in my view, that the obligation is to make arrangements for facilities or assistance to be provided, and that this imports no obligation to provide facilities or assistance directly. The provision of facilities or assistance by other means, such as by entering into appropriate contracts with private organisations, or arranging for the eligible adult or his carer to provide his own transport, where appropriate with financial assistance, is permitted.’

Davies HHJ
[2014] EWHC 3481 (Admin)
Bailii
Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 2, National Assistance Act 1948 29
Cited by:
Appeal from – Robson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Salford City Council CA 20-Jan-2015
The appellants, all severely disabled appealed against the refusal of their judicial review of the substantial withdrawal by the Council of a service providing them with transport to local day care facilities. They said that the council had failed . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Discrimination

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537986

AA v London Borough of Southwark: QBD 14 Oct 2014

The claimant sought damages after, he said, being unlawfully evicted by the respondent.
Held: The authority had behaved unlawfully and officers had conspired to evict the claimant at any cost.

Anthony Thornton QC HHJ
[2014] EWHC 500 (QB)
Bailii
Cited by:
Cited – Loveridge v London Borough of Lambeth SC 3-Dec-2014
The Council had granted a weekly secure tenancy of the premises to the appellant. The Court considered the calculation of damages awarded for an unlawful eviction of a residential tenant.
Held: Section 28(1)(a) requires the basis of the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Local Government

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537742

Sutton London Borough Council v Davis: FD 17 Mar 1994

Local Authority need not be inflexible in assessing fitness of child minder – smacking. A child minder refusing to sign Local Authority’s no-smack undertaking can still be registered.

Gazette 18-May-1994, Independent 17-Mar-1994, Times 17-Mar-1994
Children Act 1989 77(6)
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Sutton London Borough Council v Davis (Number 2) FD 8-Jul-1994
The local authority had refused to register a childminder, who successfully appealed to the magistrates, who awarded costs in her favour. The local authority appealed against the costs order. In doing so the authority urged the court to apply, by . .

Cited by:
See Also – Sutton London Borough Council v Davis (Number 2) FD 8-Jul-1994
The local authority had refused to register a childminder, who successfully appealed to the magistrates, who awarded costs in her favour. The local authority appealed against the costs order. In doing so the authority urged the court to apply, by . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.89632

Cumbria County Council v M and F: FD 28 Jul 2014

The baby P had died. Criminal proceedings against a parent were awaited, but the court considered now an application to disclose the result of the fact finding proceedings. There was a report critical as to the management of the family involved by the authorities. The local authority sought restriction of publication.
Held: Pater Jackson J said: ‘In this case the balance falls in favour of disclosure of the fact-finding judgment, but not the Schedule of Failings, to identified legal advisers to the media for an identified purpose and subject to strict controls. My reasons are as follows:
(1) The media lawyers need to know the nature of the court’s findings to allow them to consider the justification for the continuing reporting restrictions on an informed basis.
(2) This is particularly so in the case where the conduct of public agencies is under scrutiny.
(3) I do not anticipate any harm or unfairness coming to the parties to the proceedings or to any agencies as a result of this limited, controlled disclosure. The conditions I shall impose will effectively prevent any leaking of the information beyond legal advisers.
(4) This can reassure family members and eliminate any risk of prejudice to other proceedings.
(5) Delaying a decision until these proceedings are concluded will achieve nothing, and would create expense and delay while the media was put in the picture at that point.
(6) The Schedule of Failings is a detailed document from a single source, the Children’s Guardian. It is not necessary or appropriate for this to be disclosed to the media at this time. All the necessary information is in the judgment.’ Restrictions wer set out as to the way the material could be used, an in particular that it was to be available to the legal advisers only.

Peter Jackson J
[2014] EWHC 2596 (Fam)
Bailii

Children, Media, Local Government

Updated: 21 December 2021; Ref: scu.537198

McDonald, Regina (on The Application of) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: CA 13 Oct 2010

The claimant said that the wihdrawal of overnight support to her at home was unlawful.
Held: The claim failed. Her requirement was a need to urinate safely at night, which was satisfied by the new arrangement.

Rix, Wilson LJJ, Sir David Keene
[2010] EWCA Civ 1109, (2010) 13 CCL Rep 664, [2011] ACD 40
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8, Disability Discrimination Act 1995
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal From – McDonald, Regina (On the Application of) v London Borough Of Kensington and Chelsea Admn 5-Mar-2009
The claimant, a former ballerina, challenged the respondent’s decision limiting the care package provided to her in the form of overnight toileting assistance. She said that the change violated her Article 8 rights . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – McDonald, Regina (on The Application of) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea SC 6-Jul-2011
The claimant, a former prima ballerina, had suffered injury as she grew old. She came to suffer a condition requiring her to urinate at several points during each night. The respondent had been providing a carer to stay with her each night to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Health, Human Rights

Updated: 21 December 2021; Ref: scu.425190

Regina v Bowden (T): CACD 24 Feb 1995

The defendant, a maintenance manager, was accused of misconduct in public office. He had caused works to be carried out by other employees of the local authority on premises occupied by a friend when such works were not required under the authority’s repair policy. He said that as a local authority employee, and not being an employee of the Crown he could not commit the offence.
Held: He could. A local authority employee can commit the common law criminal offence of misconduct in public office. The defendant received a salary from public funds and was accountable for public funds. The offender was considered to be a public officer because he was ‘appointed to discharge a public duty and received compensation in whatever shape whether from the Crown or otherwise.’ The offence did not apply only to elected officials. The crime resembles the tort of misfeasance.

Independent 05-Apr-1995, Times 06-Mar-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 98, [1995] 4 All ER 505, 93/6974/X2
Local Government and Planning Act 1980 16, Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Henly v Lyme Corporation 1828
The plaintiff owned property by the sea. It was swamped by the tide because the corporation, who had been granted land by the Crown subject to a condition that it maintain the sea-defences of the cob, had ‘wrongfully and unjustly intending to . .
Cited – Regina v Llewellyn-Jones CACD 1968
The Registrar of a County Court was convicted of offences of misconduct in public office. The indictment charged ‘misbehaviour in a public office, contrary to common law’ and alleged that court orders had been made ‘with the intention of gaining . .
Cited – Regina v Hall 1891
On taking an office of trust concerning the public, a person makes himself answerable to the Crown irrespective of who they had been appointed by, and in what way the appointment arose. It is an ‘old principle that where an Act of Parliament creates . .
Cited – Rex v Whittaker 1914
The Court was asked whether the defendant, a regimentary colonel accused of receiving bribes in connection with the construction of a canteen, was a ‘public officer’ within the meaning of the relevant legislation.
Held: Lawrence J said: ‘A . .
Cited – Regina v Dytham CACD 1979
A constable was 30 yards away from the entrance to a club, from which he saw a man ejected. There was a fight involving cries and screams and the man was beaten and kicked to death in the gutter outside the club. The constable made no move to . .

Cited by:
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of The Bank of England HL 18-May-2000
The applicants alleged misfeasance against the Bank of England in respect of the regulation of a bank.
Held: The Bank could not be sued in negligence, but the tort of misfeasance required clear evidence of misdeeds. The action was now properly . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 2003) CACD 7-Apr-2004
Police Officers had been acquitted of misconduct in public office. They had stood by in a police station custody suite as a prisoner lay on the floor and died.
Held: The trial took place before R -v- G which had overruled Caldwell. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Local Government

Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.86175

Sky Blue Sports and Leisure Ltd and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Coventry City Council: Admn 30 Jun 2014

The claimant challenged the loan by the Council of a substantial sum to a company operating a local football club saying that it was contrary both to European and domestic law.

Hickinbottom J
[2014] EWHC 2089 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government, European

Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.536174

In The Petition of East Renfrewshire Council for An Order Under Section 75, of The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973: SCS 19 Aug 2014

Outer House – A school was situated on common good land. To finance its repair and rehabilitation, the local council sought to sell it to a finance company taking a long lease back, and now sought an order permitting it to do so.
Held: The petition was refused as unnecessary. There was nothing that would constitute a disposal by the petitioners for the purposes of section 75(2). On the contrary, I consider that the petitioners’ proposals are properly to be characterised as appropriation. In essence, all that would change would be that the land would cease permanently to be used by the petitioners for the common good, and would be used by them instead for other purposes, namely the provision of education. In my opinion that could not reasonably be described as anything other than appropriation of inalienable common good land, which appropriation this court has no power to authorise.

Lord Tyre
[2014] ScotCS CSOH – 129
Bailii
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 75
Scotland

Land, Local Government

Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.535841

Winder and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Equality and Human Rights Commission: Admn 30 Jul 2014

The defendant local authority had introduced a Council Tax Reduction scheme which purported to restrict concessions to thosewho had lived within the area for the previous two years. The claimants sought permission to judicially review the scheme as unlawful and discriminatory.
Held: Review was granted. The scheme was unlawful.

Hickinbottom J
[2014] EWHC 2617 (Admin), [2014] WLR(D) 349
Bailii, WLRD
Local Government Finance Act 1992, Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 123 131

Local Government, Rating

Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.535539

The Queen v The Justices of The Parts of Lindsey, In The County of Lincoln: QBD 22 Nov 1865

By the 54 Geo. 3, c. 9, s. 1, overseers of the poor are to be appointed on the 25th March, or within fourteen days after it; by the 5 and 6 Wm. 4, c. 50, s. 6. surveyors for the highways are to be appointed at the same time. By the 25 and 26 Vict. c. 61, s. 10, waywardens in every parish of a highway district are to be elected in the same manner, and subject to the same regulations, as surveyors of highways were chosen or appointed before this act. By the 27 and 28 Vict. c. 101, s. 10, the first meeting of a highway board after the formation of a district under the 25 and 26 Vict. c. 61, is to be held at such time as may be appointed by the provisional or final order of justices constituting the district, ‘so that the time appointed be not more than seven days after the expiration of the time limited by law for the election of waywardens’. Held, that a final order of quarter sessions made in April, 1865 (confirming a provisional order of October, 1864), which ordered that the first meeting of the highway board to be elected for the highway district should be held on the first Thursday after the 25th of March, 1866, was good : for that the sessions were not bound to appoint a day after the expiration of the time limited by law for the election of waywardens; though, as a matter of practice, it would have been better to have postponed the day to one of the seven days after such limited time.

[1865] EngR 743, (1865) 6 B and S 892, (1865) 122 ER 1422, (1865-1866) LR 1 QB 68, [1865] UKLawRpKQB 26
Commonlii
England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.281655

Hereford and Worcester County Council v Newman: CA 1975

The council had been found responsible by the magistrates for allowing footpaths to be ‘out of repair’. The paths were unusable for various reasons including having a hawthorn hedge growing down the middle, and having barbed wire fencing strung across.
Held: The appeal was allowed in part. A roadway was ‘out of repair’ within the statute only if the road surface itself was in some way disturbed. It was not want of repair merely not to remove something which had fallen across it. A fence which passed across a pathway was not out of repair as such. The hedgerow did affect the surface and those paths were out of repair.
Cairns LJ said: ‘I consider that a highway can only be said to be out of repair if the surface of it is defective or disturbed in some way. Not every defect in the surface would constitute being out of repair – e.g. an icy road would not in my view be out of repair. But if the surface is in a proper condition I do not think it can ever be said that the highway is out of repair . . I cannot imagine anybody describing the presence of such a fence as a want of repair of the path . . The other two paths have a substantial growth of vegetation in them. That vegetation no doubt constitutes an obstruction, but it must also interfere with the surface of the paths. If there had been merely branches and thorns overhanging from the sides of the footpaths I should not consider that they were out of repair, but I understand that a hawthorn hedge in one case and thick undergrowth in the other is actually rooted in the surface of the paths. With some hesitation I am of the opinion that this did cause the paths to be out of repair.’

Cairns, Lawton LJJ And Mackenna J (Dissenting)
[1975] 2 All ER 673, [1975] 1 WLR 901
Highways Act 1959 44(1)(a) 59(4)(b)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Heath QBD 1865
The highways board had sought and obtained an order against a householder who had built an extension part way over the highway. He had been orderd to pay costs but the taxed costs left a shortfall. The board now sought the difference from the . .
Appeal from – Worcestershire County Council v Newman QBD 1974
A complaint had been made to the magistrates that the authority had failed in its duty to repair pathways. The paths were crossed by fencing, by barbed wire, and vegetation had grown. . .
Limited – Bishop v Consolidated London Properties Ltd 1933
Lord du Parq treated the landlord’s duty of repair as including the removal of blockages from rainwater downpipes: ‘to repair after all merely means to prepare or make fit again to perform its function: it means to put in order.’ . .
Cited – London and North Eastern Railway Company v Berriman HL 1946
Railway workers duties outside scope for damages
A railway worker’s widow sought compensation after her husband was killed by a train.
Held: He had been involved in routine maintenance and oiling at the time of the accident and was not ‘relaying or repairing’ tracks. She was not entitled to . .

Cited by:
Cited – Haydon v Kent County Council CA 1978
Impacted snow and ice had built up on a steep, narrow, made-up footpath from Monday to Thursday during a short wintry spell. The plaintiff slipped and broke her ankle. The highway authority operated a system of priorities. Their resources were fully . .
Cited – Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott Macdonald Ltd and others CA 27-Jul-2006
Claims arose from accidents caused by standing water on roadway surfaces after drains had not been cleared by the defendants over a long period of time. The Department appealed a decision giving it responsibility under a breach of statutory duty . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Land

Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.237583

Partingdale Lane Residents’ Association, Regina (on the Application of) v Barnet London Borough Council: Admn 2 Apr 2003

Complaint was made that a Councillor had closed his mind to any arguments and had predetermined the decision on a proposed road re-opening order.
Held: The application was allowed. Councillor Coleman had himself gone beyond a legitimate predisposition or even giving strong weight to his own manifesto commitment that Partingdale Lane should be re-opened, and had predetermined the issue of principle as to its re-opening before consultation ever took place. That predisposition was not cured by subsequent council processes.

Rabinder Singh QC
[2003] EWHC 947 (Admin)
Bailii
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, Local Government Act 2000 10 11 13
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Wainwright) v Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council CA 20-Dec-2001
A local authority was under a statutory duty to consult before undertaking road improvements. Because of the chaotic mail administration systems, the consultation had been ruled unlawful. The council appealed.
Held: The council had in fact . .
Cited – Regina v Brent London Borough Council ex parte Gunning 1985
The demands of fair consultation procedures will vary from case to case and will depend on the factors involved. The requirements are: ‘First, that consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage. Second, that the . .
Cited – Regina v Camden London Borough Council Ex Parte Cran and Others QBD 25-Jan-1995
A designation of an area as a controlled parking area was vitiated by the failure of the Local Authority to consult locally. The court expanded on the principles for consultation set out in Gunning: ‘What kind and amount of consultation is required . .
Cited – Lower Hutt City Council v Bank 1974
(New Zealand Court of Appeal) The court was asked about the validity of a decision of a local council where it was said that a councillor had already made up his mind: ‘It cannot be doubted that one of the cardinal principle of natural justice, and . .
Cited – Bovis Homes Ltd v New Forest District Council Admn 2002
An allegation of bias was based on the participation by a councillor in the meeting which adopted the council’s local plan who was a member of a committee and had been involved in a meeting of that committee which had supported the proposed . .
Cited – Regina v Amber Valley District Council ex parte Dickson QBD 1984
One group on the council decided to support a proposed planning application. It was then asked whether that prevented a member of the group sitting on the committee which would assess it. There was an affidavit from the leader of the majority group . .
Cited – Bromley London Borough Council v Greater London Council HL 17-Dec-1981
Councillors’ Duties replace Election Promises
Bromley complained of a supplementary precept issued by the respondent to implement a commitment, contained in an election manifesto for the election in May 1979, upon which the majority on the GLC had been elected.
Held: In making choices of . .

Cited by:
Cited – Island Farm Development Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v Bridgend County Borough Council Admn 25-Aug-2006
The claimant applied for a review of a decision by the respondent council not to sell it land.
Held: The challenge failed. The councillors had acted in accordance with advice given to them by officers, and ‘the committee was concerned only to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.185034

Rotherham Borough Council and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills: CA 28 Jul 2014

The authorities appealed against rejection of their complaint that the respondent had acted unlawfully in its allocation of European Union structural funds giving priority to other regions.

Lord Dyson MR, Maurice Kay, Floyd LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 1080, [2014] WLR(D) 338, [2014] PTSR 1387
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills SC 25-Feb-2015
Appeal about the distribution of European Structural Funds among the regions of the United Kingdom. It arises out of the complaint of a number of local authorities in Merseyside and South Yorkshire about the way in which it is proposed to distribute . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government

Updated: 18 December 2021; Ref: scu.535389

McCarthy and others v Basildon District Council: CA 25 Nov 2008

Application by Basildon District Council to seek that this court should order that the Equality and Human Rights Commission should not be permitted to intervene; or, if it is, should only be permitted to intervene in writing; or, failing that, that if it is permitted to intervene orally, it should be made a party and at risk of any costs incurred as a result of any unhelpful intervention.

Moses LJ
[2008] EWCA Civ 1586
Bailii
England and Wales

Discrimination, Local Government, Planning

Updated: 16 December 2021; Ref: scu.291900

Regina (on the Application of Carlton-Conway) v London Borough of Harrow: Admn 7 Nov 2001

The applicant objected to an application for planning permission by a neighbour. The authority authorised officers to exercise delegated powers to grant permission where no objection had been received. Even then the officer could exercise the power only where the development sought complied with all relevant policies. Here an objection was made. The officer mistakenly viewed that plan as complying with the policies and granted the application
Held: It was for the planning officer to interpret planning policies and to decide whether there was a conflict, so long as he acted reasonably and in good faith. It was a subjective test as to whether the officer viewed the application as complying with the policies.

[2001] EWHC Admin 873
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Appealed to – Regina (on the application of Carlton-Conway) v Harrow London Borough Council CA 14-Jun-2002
The appellant had objected to a neighbour’s planning application. Contested applications could only be handled under delegated powers where the permission sought would comply with the relevant policies. The application was granted because in the . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Regina (on the application of Carlton-Conway) v Harrow London Borough Council CA 14-Jun-2002
The appellant had objected to a neighbour’s planning application. Contested applications could only be handled under delegated powers where the permission sought would comply with the relevant policies. The application was granted because in the . .
Cited – Richardson and Orme v North Yorkshire County Council CA 19-Dec-2003
The claimants appealed against an order dismissing their application for a judicial review of the respondent’s grant of planning permission. They contended that a councillor with an interest in the matter had wrongfully not been excluded from the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Planning, Local Government

Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.167259

Sheffield County Council v Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council: FD 22 Jun 2012

Appeal by Sheffield against an order that Sheffield be the designated local authority in respect of a final care order regarding a young man C.

Bodey J
[2012] EWHC B37 (Fam), [2013] 1 FLR 1027, [2013] Fam Law 32
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.567271

Westminster City Council v Porter and Another: ChD 30 Jul 2002

The claimant authority sought compensation from the respondents for acts committed whilst she had been a councillor. The auditor had certified that the respondents had caused losses amounting to 31 million pounds.
Held: Summary judgement was granted. The certification procedure under the 1988 Act had left undisturbed the equitable right of a local authority to certify its losses occasioned by its officers. The council was entitled to judgement both under its common law powers and under the Act since they arose from the same facts. The respondent was not entitled to a stay of execution pending her application to the European Court of Human Rights. Such a stay might be granted only where it was clear that a judgement might lead to a statutory reversal of the law on which the claim was founded.

Mr Justice Hart
Times 22-Aug-2002
Audit Commission Act 1988 18
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Locabail (UK) Ltd and Another v Waldorf Investment Corporation and Others (No 4) ChD 13-Jun-2000
An application to the European Court of Human Rights was not an appeal. Where it was clear that any decision there would not affect the issues between the parties, there was no reason to suspend enforcement of the order which had given rise to the . .
Cited – Personal Representatives of Tang Man Sit v Capacious Investments Ltd PC 18-Dec-1995
The claimant, Capacious Investments Ltd, brought proceedings against Tang’s estate for damages for the loss of use and occupation, and also an account of profits and damages for loss and damage incurred, for example by encumbering the property with . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Human Rights

Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.174719

The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Newham v Skingle and the Pensions Ombudsman: ChD 23 May 2002

The applicant was a retired local government worker. His pension was determined by his final salary. He worked many hours overtime. Was that overtime to be included when calculating his pension? The regulations included all payments, but not non-contractual overtime.
Held: The regulations were not clear. The contract provided overtime rates, so the ombudsman had found the payments to have been made under the contract. The employers contended that non-contractual overtime meant only overtime which was not obligatory. The Ombudsman erred in construing the regulations, and so the case was remitted, but he was correct in construing the contract.

The Honourable Mr Justice Jacob
Times 15-Jul-2002, Gazette 18-Jul-2002, [2002] EWHC 1013 (Ch), [2003] IRLR 72, [2002] 3 All ER 287, [2002] ICR 1118, [2002] OPLR 259, [2003] Pens LR 73
Bailii
Pensions Schemes Act 1993 151(4), Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1995
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – London Borough of Newham v Skingle CA 20-Feb-2003
Local Government pensions . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Financial Services, Local Government, Employment

Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.171273

Regina (M) v Sutton London Borough Council: QBD 6 Feb 2007

The child was subject to a special needs statement. The parents decided upon a particular school, but the authority set out in the statement its own preference for a nearer school, and its decision accordingly to refuse free transport to school.
Held: The incorporation in the statement of a decision about the provision of transport costs, was not properly based, and could not be used to justify the withholding of a contribution to such costs.

Goldring J
Times 01-Mar-2007
England and Wales

Education, Local Government

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.253201

Tithe Redemption Commission v Runcorn Urban District Council: CA 1954

The court considered the effect of a strip of land being designated as a public right of way. Denning LJ said: ‘The statute . . vest[s] in the local authority the top spit, or perhaps, I should say, the top two spits of the road for a legal estate in fee simple determinable in the event of it ceasing to be a public highway.’

Denning LJ
[1954] 2 WLR 51, [1954] Ch 383
Local Government Act 1929 29
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Rolls v Vestry of St George the Martyr, Southwark CA 14-Jun-1880
The plaintiff owned land over which were two old streets. He obtained an order from the Magistrates stopping up the stopping up and diversion of parts in return for new streets matching the proposed area layout. The defendants, in whom the land had . .

Cited by:
Cited – Smith, Regina (on the Application of) v The Land Registry (Peterborough Office) Admn 13-Feb-2009
The applicant sought judicial review of the cancellation of his application for first registration of land by adverse possession. The application had been rejected because a public right of way existed through it, and the claimant had not shown the . .
Cited – Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Land Registry (Peterborough Office) and Another CA 10-Mar-2010
The appellant had lived in a caravan on the verge of a byway and had been here for more than twelve years. He appealed against rejection of his request for possessory title. He said that there was no support in law for the maxim that adverse . .
Cited – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London SC 5-Dec-2018
Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Local Government

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.320857

London Borough of Southwark v Transport for London: ChD 1 Dec 2015

Appeal from arbitrations vesting certain highways.

Mann J
[2015] EWHC 3448 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London CA 4-Aug-2017
The Land of a roadway was to be transferred to TFL. The parties disputed whether there would be transferred the areas adjacent to the surface, or whether it should be the full depth of the earth and to the skies. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Transport, Land, Local Government

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.556252

Hurst and Another v Hampshire County Council: CA 19 Jun 1997

A Local Authority is liable for any damage to adjacent property caused by the roots of a tree growing on the verge of a public highway.
Held: Pre-adoption trees vest in the highway authority for all purposes.

Stuart-Smith, Morritt L, Sir John Balcombe
Times 26-Jun-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1901, (1997) 96 LGR 27
Bailii
Highways Act 1980 96(6), Road Improvements Act 1925 1(1) 1(2) 1(5)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Leakey v The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty CA 31-Jul-1979
Natural causes were responsible for soil collapsing onto neighbouring houses in Bridgwater.
Held: An occupier of land owes a general duty of care to a neighbouring occupier in relation to a hazard occurring on his land, whether such hazard is . .
Cited – Solloway v Hampshire County Council CA 1981
Tree root damage had occurred following two successive very hot and dry summers in 1975 and 1976, in an area where the subsoil was almost all gravel but where, as it happened, under the plaintiff’s house there were pockets of clay. An issue arose as . .
Cited – Goodtitle, Ex Dimiss Chester v Alker and Elmes 28-Jan-1757
The owner of land over which ran a public highway did not lose any of his rights of ownership whether of the surface or subsoil. Any trees growing in the highway were his trees . .
Cited – Stovin v Wise, Norfolk County Council (Third Party) HL 24-Jul-1996
Statutory Duty Does Not Create Common Law Duty
The mere existence of statutory power to remedy a defect cannot of itself create a duty of care to do so. A highway authority need not have a duty of care to highway users because of its duty to maintain the highway. The two stage test ‘involves . .
Cited – Turner v Ringwood Highway Board 1870
The highway extended to a width of 50 feet. After adoption trees grew in that part not used as the actual road.
Held: Once a highway exists the public has a right to use the whole of the width of the highway and not just that part of it . .
Cited – Coverdale v Charlton CA 2-Dec-1878
By an award under an Inclosure Act passed in 1766 a private road E was set out. In about 1818 road E became a public highway. A local board was formed in 1863 and in 1876 the board let the pasturage upon E to the Plaintiff. He thereupon commenced to . .
Cited – Geddis v Proprietors of Bann Reservoir HL 18-Feb-1878
The owner of land injured by operations authorised by statute ‘suffers a private loss for the public benefit’, and in the absence of clear statutory authority is unable to claim: ‘It is now thoroughly well established that no action will lie for . .
Cited – Stillwell v New Windsor Corporation 1932
The Plaintiff owned a house bounded on the west and north by public highways. There were a number of post-adoption trees of which the Plaintiff claimed the property. Having refused to comply with the Defendant’s notice to remove the trees on the . .
Cited – Russell v London Borough of Barnet 1984
The Land Registry general boundaries rule operates so that although the land registry plan is placed inside a road, the ad medium filae presumption still operates as regards ownership of the soil. . .

Cited by:
Cited – Bybrook Barn Garden Centre Ltd and Others v Kent County Council CA 8-Jan-2001
A culvert had been constructed taking a stream underneath the road. At the time when it came into the ownership of the local authority, it was adequate for this purpose. Later developments increased the flow, and the culvert came to become an . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Nuisance, Local Government, Land

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.142297

London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London: SC 5 Dec 2018

Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance and repair of the road , or the full extent of the land; all the airspace above and the subsoil below the surface of the road.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The land transferred was not the narrower definition.
‘Highway’ has no single meaning, but by default the wider meaning was to be used.
article 2(1)(a) transfers to TfL ownership of all that part of the vertical plane relating to a GLA road vested in the relevant council on the operative date, but only to the extent that ownership was then vested in the council in its capacity as former highway authority. That is, in my view, the true meaning of the phrase ‘the highway, in so far as it is vested in the former highway authority’. It follows that:
i) rights held by the Councils in the vertical plane of a highway as adjoining owner, for purposes other than highway purposes, do not pass under article 2(1)(a). This is because they are not held by the Council in its capacity as highway authority.
ii) rights originally acquired for purposes other than highway purposes, or appropriated to those other purposes by the operative date, do not pass under article 2(1)(a). This is so whether or not some non-highway structure has by then been constructed. If acquisition or appropriation for non-highway purposes has occurred by the operative date, it matters not that the relevant purpose has yet to be fulfilled, so that the relevant part of the vertical plane remains undeveloped.
iii) rights originally acquired for highway purposes in the vertical plane, for example by conveyance on compulsory acquisition for highway purposes, do pass under article 2(1)(a), even if they extend beyond the zone of ordinary use, provided that they have not, by the operative date, been appropriated to some non-highway use outside the zone of ordinary use.
iv) All these consequences, and in particular the first, flow from the true construction of article 2, rather than merely by way of TfL’s concession as recorded by Mann J.

Lady Hale, President, Lord Reed, Deputy President, Lord Carnwath, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Briggs
[2018] UKSC 63, [2019] 1 P and CR 14, [2019] RVR 49, [2018] 3 WLR 2059, [2019] PTSR 1, [2019] 2 All ER 271, UKSC 2017/0160
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary Cvideo, SC 2018 1024 am Video, SC 2018 10 24 PM, SC 2018 10 25 am Video
GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London CA 4-Aug-2017
The Land of a roadway was to be transferred to TFL. The parties disputed whether there would be transferred the areas adjacent to the surface, or whether it should be the full depth of the earth and to the skies. . .
Cited – Powell v McFarlane ChD 1977
Intention to Establish Adverse Possession of Land
A squatter had occupied the land and defended a claim for possession. The court discussed the conditions necessary to establish an intention to possess land adversely to the paper owner.
Held: Slade J said: ‘It will be convenient to begin by . .
Cited – Tunbridge Wells (Mayor Of) v Baird HL 4-May-1896
The Public Health Act 1875, which by s. 149 vests certain streets in the urban authority, does not vest the subsoil.
Therefore where a local Act authorized the urban authority to erect and maintain ‘in any street or public place, or on land . .
Cited – Coverdale v Charlton CA 2-Dec-1878
By an award under an Inclosure Act passed in 1766 a private road E was set out. In about 1818 road E became a public highway. A local board was formed in 1863 and in 1876 the board let the pasturage upon E to the Plaintiff. He thereupon commenced to . .
Cited – Rolls v Vestry of St George the Martyr, Southwark CA 14-Jun-1880
The plaintiff owned land over which were two old streets. He obtained an order from the Magistrates stopping up the stopping up and diversion of parts in return for new streets matching the proposed area layout. The defendants, in whom the land had . .
Cited – Tithe Redemption Commission v Runcorn Urban District Council CA 1954
The court considered the effect of a strip of land being designated as a public right of way. Denning LJ said: ‘The statute . . vest[s] in the local authority the top spit, or perhaps, I should say, the top two spits of the road for a legal estate . .
Cited – Cusack v London Borough of Harrow SC 19-Jun-2013
The landowner practised from property in Harrow. The former garden had now for many years been used as a forecourt open to the highway, for parking cars of staff and clients. Cars crossed the footpath to gain access, and backing out into the road . .
Cited – Farrell v Alexander HL 24-Jun-1976
The House considered the construction of a consolidation Act.
Held: It is ordinarily both unnecessary and undesirable to construe a consolidation Act by reference to statutory antecedents, but it is permissible to do so in a case where the . .
Cited – Goodes v East Sussex County Council HL 16-Jun-2000
The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road.
Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road . .
Cited – Finchley Electric Light Company v Finchley Urban Council CA 11-Feb-1903
Under s. 149 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which provides for the vesting in the urban authority of the streets within their district, the question how much above and below the surface of the street vests in the urban authority is determined by . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Environment Transport and the Regions v Baylis (Gloucester) Ltd; Bennett Construction (UK) Ltd v Baylis (Gloucester) Ltd ChD 16-May-2000
Land once conveyed for the purposes of becoming a highway, became dedicated for that purpose even though no steps were ever taken for its use for that purpose. The registration of a company as proprietor by the Land Registry did not displace the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Local Government, Transport

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.630951

Goodes v East Sussex County Council: HL 16 Jun 2000

The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road.
Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road in repair did not include an absolute duty to remove all ice. The 1959 Act was a consolidating Act and did not extend the responsibilities of highway authorities. ‘Maintenance and repair’ might sometimes include the removal of ice, but, and contrary to established authority, those words related to works to the surface of the roadway not to matter which might accumulate on it. The presence of ice and snow did not mean that the highway was out of repair. Removing ice and snow was a different kind of obligation which could be imposed on highway authorities only by Parliament. A highway authority’s duty under section 41(1) of the 1980 Act to maintain the highway was a duty to keep the fabric of the highway in such good repair as to render its physical condition safe for ordinary traffic to pass at all seasons of the year. It did not include a duty to prevent the formation of ice or remove an accumulation of snow on the road.
Lord Clyde said: ‘I have no difficulty in holding that Section 41 of the Highways Act, 1980 imposes an absolute duty on the highway authority. There is no hardship in so holding since the section has to be taken along with Section 58 which provides a defence that reasonable care has been taken by the authority. The scheme of the provisions is in its broad effect that the authority should be liable for damage caused by a failure to take reasonable care to maintain the highway, but the injured party is not required to prove the failure to take reasonable care. It is for the authority to prove that it has exercised all reasonable care. Such a reversal of the onus which would have been imposed on a plaintiff in an action for damages at common law is justifiable by the consideration that the plaintiff is not likely to know or be able to readily to ascertain in what respects the authority has failed in its duty. All that the plaintiff will know is that there is a defect in the road which has caused him injury and it is reasonable to impose on the authority the burden of explaining that they had exercised all reasonable care and should not be found liable. But the question in the case is precisely what is the meaning and scope of the absolute duty . . Maintenance certainly includes the work of repair and the taking of measures which will obviate the need to repair, to forestall the development of a defect in the road which will, if allowed to develop, require remedial action. The standard of maintenance is to be measured by considerations of safety. The obligation is to maintain the road so that it is safe for the passage of those entitled to use it. But the question still remains as to precisely what is the scope of that maintenance. It certainly requires that the highway be kept in a structurally sound condition. . . To use the words of Diplock, L.J. in Burnside -v- Emerson [1968] 1 WLR 1490 . . the obligation is to keep the highway ‘in such good repair as renders it reasonably passable for the ordinary traffic of the neighbourhood at all seasons of the year without danger caused by its physical condition.”

Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Steyn Lord Hoffmann Lord Clyde Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough
Times 16-Jun-2000, Gazette 29-Jun-2000, [2000] UKHL 34, [2000] 3 All ER 603, [2000] 1 WLR 1356
House of Lords, House of Lords, House of Lords, Bailii
Highways Act 1980 41(1), Highways Act 1959
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Goodes v East Sussex County Council CA 7-Jan-1999
A council which failed to maintain a road ice free when they had decided on the need to prevent icing, and had had the opportunity to prevent it, but failed to take it, were in breach of statutory duty and liable for damages to driver of crashed . .
Cited – Regina v Heath QBD 1865
The highways board had sought and obtained an order against a householder who had built an extension part way over the highway. He had been orderd to pay costs but the taxed costs left a shortfall. The board now sought the difference from the . .
Cited – Cross v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council CA 27-Jun-1997
The Council’s duty to maintain a highway is not absolute. It must take reasonable steps to prevent or clear ice forming on pathway. Lord Justice Evans analysed the application of Section 41 to a situation which arose from ice and snow. In any case . .
Cited – Haydon v Kent County Council CA 1978
Impacted snow and ice had built up on a steep, narrow, made-up footpath from Monday to Thursday during a short wintry spell. The plaintiff slipped and broke her ankle. The highway authority operated a system of priorities. Their resources were fully . .
Cited – Regina v Inhabitants of Greenhow 1876
A roadway had slipped down the hillside. At one point it was some 25ft below its former position. Though the material underneath was poor and unstable, it was repairable at a substantial cost to the inhabitants of the local borough.
Held: The . .
Cited – Farrell v Alexander HL 24-Jun-1976
The House considered the construction of a consolidation Act.
Held: It is ordinarily both unnecessary and undesirable to construe a consolidation Act by reference to statutory antecedents, but it is permissible to do so in a case where the . .
Cited – Burnside and Another v Emerson and Others CA 1968
The plaintiffs were injured in a road accident caused by flooding. They sued the executors of the deceased driver whose car spun out of control into the path of their own car, and also the highway authority, who had installed a proper system of . .
Cited – Guardians of the Poor of the Union of Amesbury v Justices of the Peace of the County of Wiltshire QBD 1883
The removal of snow which obstructed the main roads of the district of a highway authority was an ‘expense incurred in the maintenance’ of the highways for the purposes of obtaining a contribution from the county under section 13. . .
Cited – Cowley v Newmarket Local Board HL 1892
No action in tort lay against highway authorities for a failure to repair a highway. They were no more liable than were the local inhabitants.
Lord Halsbury said: ‘We are to consider the scope and purpose of the statute, and in particular for . .
Cited – Griffiths v Liverpool Corporation CA 1967
The Highways Act of 1961 had enlarged the duty of the highway authority and made it a general duty to take reasonable care to secure that the highway was not dangerous to traffic.
As to the effect of the 1961 Act, Diplock LJ said: ‘The duty at . .
Cited – Slater v Worthington’s Cash Store Ltd 1941
The defendant property owner was held to be liable for failing to remove snow from his roof, so that a minor avalanche injured a passer-by on the pavement. . .
Cited – Saunders v Holborn District Board of Works QBD 1895
Mr Saunders was injured when he slipped on an icy pavement, and claimed damages.
Held: A breach of the duty to remove snow did not give rise to a private law cause of action, any more than a breach of the duty to maintain the highway. Before . .
Cited – Acton District Council v London United Tramways KBD 1909
The court was asked whether the removal of four or five inches of snow from the tramway in Acton High Street was within the duty to maintain the highway imposed by section 28 of the Act of 1870.
Held: It was not. . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Scott 1905
A highway authority should ‘maintain the road according to an up-to-date standard.’ . .
Cited – Dublin United Tramways Co Ltd v Martin Fitzgerald HL 1903
The plaintiff sued when his horse slipped on tramlines in the road and fell. Stone setts or paving between the rails of a tramway in Grafton Street, Dublin, had become slippery owing to the grit or roughness of setts being worn away. In that state, . .
Cited – Latimer v AEC Limited HL 25-Jun-1953
The Appellant had recovered damages for injuries which he alleged had been the result of a failure on the part of the Respondents in their statutory duty to maintain one of the gangways in their works in an efficient state. He slipped on a factory . .

Cited by:
Cited – Roe v Sheffield City Council and others CA 17-Jan-2003
The claimant sought damages after his car was involved in an accident when a wheel struck a part of a tramway standing proud of the road surface. The defendant argued that they were excused liability by the 1988 Act, incorporating the effects of the . .
Cited – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council HL 1-Apr-2004
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include . .
Cited – Fiona Thompson v Hampshire County Council CA 27-Jul-2004
The claimant fell into a ditch by a path on the highway in the dark. She appealed a finding of no liability on the highway authority.
Held: The authority’s responsibility was as to the surface structures of the road way and not as to the . .
Cited – Jane Marianne Sandhar, John Stuart Murray v Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant’s husband died when his car skidded on hoar frost. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe.
Held: The respondent had not assumed a general responsibility to all road users . .
Cited – Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott Macdonald Ltd and others CA 27-Jul-2006
Claims arose from accidents caused by standing water on roadway surfaces after drains had not been cleared by the defendants over a long period of time. The Department appealed a decision giving it responsibility under a breach of statutory duty . .
Cited – Ali v The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council CA 17-Nov-2010
The claimant appealed against rejection of her claim for damages after slipping on a footpath maintainable by the defendant after an accumulation of mud and debris. The claim appeared to be the first under section 130, and the highway authority . .
Cited – King Lifting Ltd v Oxfordshire County Council QBD 20-Jul-2016
A heavy crane had toppled from a road. The crane owners said that the highway authority were responsible for the poor condition of the road.
Held: The action failed. The evidence did not support the assertion that the accident arose from a . .
Cited – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London SC 5-Dec-2018
Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.80914

Tunbridge Wells (Mayor Of) v Baird: HL 4 May 1896

The Public Health Act 1875, which by s. 149 vests certain streets in the urban authority, does not vest the subsoil.
Therefore where a local Act authorized the urban authority to erect and maintain ‘in any street or public place, or on land belonging to them or under their control,’ lavatories for the use of the public.
Held: that the urban authority had no power to excavate the soil and erect lavatories below the surface of a street which had vested in them within the meaning of the Public Health Act 1875.

[1896] UKLawRpAC 22, (1896) AC 434
Commonlii
Public Health Act 1875 149
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London SC 5-Dec-2018
Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Land

Leading Case

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.670328