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Government tells local authorities to use their powers to stop ‘garden grabbing’

John Healey, the Housing Minister, has told local authorities to use their powers to ban or limit the practice known as ‘garden grabbing’. Following the introduction of the Planning Act 2008, the...

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Inappropriate residential garden development due to lack of council policies

On 19 January 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) published its investigation into residential development on gardens in England. “Garden grabbing” has become a contentious...

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Regional house-building targets have been scrapped

The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has scrapped Regional Strategies and their centrally-imposed building targets – fulfilling a commitment which the Government made in its Coalition Agreement on 20...

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Developers ‘in limbo’ following change in planning

I recently wrote about the Government’s decision this month to officially scrap Regional Strategies and their centrally-imposed home building targets – and the problems that this change would initially...

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Housebuilder launches legal challenge to Government’s abolition of the...

Last month, I wrote that the abolition of the Regional Strategies in May and the general uncertainty over the Government’s planning policy had left housebuilders ‘in limbo’, with a number of...

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High Court rules that the Government acted unlawfully in revoking the...

The High Court has ruled today (10 November) that the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, acted unlawfully when he unilaterally revoked the Regional Strategies in England. Back in...

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Government launches consultation on New Homes Bonus scheme

On 12 November 2010, the Government issued a consultation paper on its New Homes Bonus scheme. The New Homes Bonus scheme, which I touched upon in my summary of last month’s Spending Review, is aimed...

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Local authorities could be given new powers to set their planning fees

In a move that will be of particular interest to developers, the Department for Communities and Local Government has published a consultation paper on its proposals to change planning application fees...

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Local authorities seek freedom to charge for listed buildings applications

Since I wrote my article on the Government’s proposals to reform the planning application fee system, so that local authorities can set their planning fees, an interesting development has come to...

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Government suffers another setback over the scrapping of the Regional Strategies

The Government has suffered a further setback after the High Court ruled that, until further notice, local planning authorities should not take into account the Government’s intention to abolish the...

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Planning Inspectorate issues new Regional Strategies statement

Another week, another development in the ongoing Regional Strategies saga. In November, I wrote that, following a judicial review launched by Cala Homes (South) Ltd, the High Court had ruled that the...

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Housebuilder loses legal challenge over abolition of the Regional Strategies

Housebuilder Cala Homes (South) Ltd has lost its High Court challenge against the Government’s claim that its intention to abolish the Regional Strategies should be considered by local planning...

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Cala Homes v The Government: The battle continues…

Housebuilder Cala Homes (South) Ltd has been granted permission to appeal its recent High Court defeat in its long-running legal battle against the Government’s claim that its intention to abolish the...

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Government selects areas that will trial new neighbourhood planning powers

The Government has announced the names of 17 areas that will trial its neighbourhood planning reforms. The reforms, which were unveiled in the Localism Bill (click here for more details), are designed...

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Government to carry out environmental assessment of its decision to revoke...

On 5 April, planning minister Bob Neill announced in a parliamentary ministerial statement that the Government will assess the environmental impact of revoking each regional strategy… possibly to avoid...

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Cala Homes v The Government: The Court of Appeal hearing has begun…

Cala Homes (South) Ltd’s long-running legal battle with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has now reached the Court of Appeal. Cala Homes is challenging the Government’s claim...

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Breaking news: Cala loses appeal over scrapping of regional planning targets

The Court of Appeal has today (27 May) rejected the judicial review appeal by Cala Homes (South) Ltd over the Government’s decision to revoke the Regional Strategies. Cala had claimed that the...

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Surrey County Council fined £120,000 for serious breaches of Data Protection Act

Surrey County Council has been fined £120,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office – the UK’s data protection regulator – for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. In the first instance, it...

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Information Commissioner’s Office consults on new guidance for what...

The Information Commissioner’s Office – the UK’s privacy and information regulator – is consulting on amendments to its guidance as to what information public bodies must disclose and when. Under the...

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Court of Appeal orders rectification of a contract where one party unfairly...

The two parties in this case had negotiated a contract which did not reflect the commercial agreement that had been reached in principle. The contract related to the purchase of council housing by...

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Councils need counselling for better data protection

There have been 1,035 cases of personal data loss by 132 councils in the past three years. These are the findings of Big Brother Watch, after it had submitted a freedom of information request to...

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Looking for a mortgage? Why not try your local council

There could be some further good news for potential homebuyers from an unexpected source. Following on from the Government’s recent introduction of a new-build indemnity scheme to help purchasers of...

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