Local Authority round-up 20/10/23

Commercial

Council trials use of hydrotreated vegetable oil to fuel rubbish collection lorries

Cumberland Council has announced that it plans to fuel some of its rubbish collection lorries with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The use of HVO would replace the use of diesel in four vehicles as part of a trial.  It estimates that the change could cut carbon dioxide emissions by 67.5 tonnes (around 90% overall) in six months.  HVO, which is made from vegetable or used cooking oil, currently costs around £1.94 a litre for road users, compared with about £1.51 for standard white diesel so it would also help to reduce costs.

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Planning and Housing

Welsh Government publishes White Paper on ending homelessness in Wales

On 10 October 2023, the Welsh Government (WG) published a White Paper for consultation on ending homelessness in Wales. The WG has identified that significant legislative reform is required to end homelessness in Wales. Many of its proposals relate to reform of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (HWA 2014), which provides the legislative framework that governs homelessness services. Despite evidence of various positive outcomes created by the HWA 2014 since its implementation, it notably did not address the structural causes of homelessness and outcomes for particular groups remained unsatisfactory. As well as legislative reform, the WG’s proposals relate to the role of the Welsh public service in preventing homelessness, targeted proposals to prevent homelessness for those disproportionately affected, access to housing, and implementation. The WG’s proposed changes include:

• Deeming a person to be threatened with homelessness if it is likely that they will become homeless within six months or if they have been issued with a Notice Seeking Possession.
• Where a person is permitted to reside in an area, but does not have access to clean water, waste facilities and toilet facilities, they should fall within the definition of homeless under section 55 of the HWA 2014.
• Introducing new statutory duties to draw up a personal housing plan (PHP) containing the steps the local housing authority will take to secure accommodation for the applicant.

Responses to the consultation can be sent by email by 16 January 2024.

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Council beats Spurs in High Court challenge

Haringey Council has won a High Court challenge by Tottenham Hotspur over a regeneration scheme near the football club’s stadium. The club took legal action in response to the local authority’s decision to grant planning permission for almost 3,000 houses, including 500 council homes, and commercial development near High Road. Tottenham’s lawyers argued the council failed to consider ‘heritage impacts’ and crowd control issues. Mr Justice Saini dismissed the case saying “In my judgment, the council was lawfully satisfied that the planning permission created a framework which would ensure that the access to the stadium, which was a key planning consideration, would be satisfactorily achieved without unreasonable impact on [the club].” David Joyce, director of Placemaking and Housing at Haringey Council, said “We are pleased with the High Court judgement. The decision is an endorsement that the council’s planning authority acted lawfully in the granting of planning permission for the scheme.”

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Upcoming Webinars

Webinar series: Data Protection

Register your interest for our on-going webinar series on ‘Data Protection’ for in-house lawyers, DPOs and senior management in private and public sector organisations. The series will run throughout 2023 providing attendees with up to date information on key Data Protection topics. The short one hour sessions will be delivered by our experts with allocated time for you to ask any questions you may have. The next in our series ‘Data transfers – crossing borders’ will take place on 14 November 2023.

For more information or to book your place, please click here.

Immigration Update: Managing Compliance and Tricky Immigration Law Issues in the Workplace

Join us for a webinar in which we will provide organisations with an update on immigration compliance in the workplace and will provide practical tips on addressing some of the tricky issues which we are advising on in practice. This event will take place on 14 November 2023 at 10am via Zoom.

For more information or to book your place, please click here.