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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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Farnsworth v The Information Commissioner ( IC) [2025] UKFTT 670 ( GRC) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision serves as a clear prompt for anyone managing information requests to scrutinise the applicability and breadth of exemptions under EIR 2004, SI 2004/3391, or FIOA 2000 where relevant. Erewash Council (the Council) treated the request as falling within EIR 2004, SI 2004/3391 and examined the exemptions in regulation 14. Initially, it considered relying on sub-paragraphs (a) and (e), but ultimately invoked sub-paragraph (d), covering ‘material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data’. Given that EIR 2004, SI 2004/3391 derives from European treaties to which the UK is a party, the judge stressed that such instruments must be read in good faith, according to their ordinary meaning, in context and in light of their...
In this issue: Heritage and natural environment Planning enforcement Planning applications and decisions Nationally significant infrastructure projects Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Heritage and natural environment Court of Appeal clarifies separation of planning and forestry regimes under the Forestry Act ( R (on the application of Smar Holdings Ltd) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) The Court of Appeal in R (on the application of Smar Holdings Ltd) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2025] EWCA Civ 1041 upheld the Secretary of State’s challenge, reversing the High Court’s judgment that had favoured Smar. It also examined whether planning considerations were really relevant. The central question was whether planning factors—most notably the public interest in delivering new housing—bear on the Forestry Act 1967 regime, in...
Westminster City Council v Gems House Residences Chiltern Street Ltd and another company [2025] EWHC 1789 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? At the outset, it should be noted that the facts were intricate and the clause at the heart of the construction dispute was atypical (see §18, which reproduces clause 10 of the agreement). As the judge remarked at §31, steering a court towards alternative wording that might have eliminated doubt is seldom of real assistance when construing an agreement. By the same token, the result here hinges on the particular language chosen and offers limited guidance where different terminology is used. There is also a real possibility that the decision could be overturned on appeal (the City Council’s application for permission to appeal remains pending). Nonetheless, the judgment offers significant help to...
In this issue: Buildings and building regulations Planning appeals and objections Planning policy Planning obligations Marine planning Green belts Water resource management Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Buildings and building regulations Supreme Court clarifies interpretation of building distance requirements under Cremation Act 1902 ( Wathen- Fayed v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and another) The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal in Wathen- Fayed v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It ruled that, in section 5 of the Cremation Act 1902 ( CA 1902), ‘crematorium’ means a ‘building fitted with appliances for the purpose of burning human remains’—that is, the crematory building. Consequently, the distance requirements in CA 1902, s 5 are to be measured from the building that contains the...
In this issue: Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Nationally significant infrastructure projects Buildings and Building Regulations Heritage and natural environment Planning applications and decisions Planning policy Planning conditions, obligations and the community infrastructure levy Planning and Infrastructure Bill Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Key planning provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill On 10 July 2025, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill was laid before the House of Commons. It translates the government’s aim to bring back strategic planning throughout England into statute and establishes a uniform approach to devolved powers. This commentary reviews the principal planning measures in the Bill, explains the context to its introduction, and considers the possible consequences for the planning and development industry. See News Analysis: Key planning provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill here......
Background The Bill sits within the government’s wider drive to devolve power and bolster decision-making at local and regional levels. This programme was trailed in the King’s Speech and taken forward through the English Devolution White Paper of December 2024, which proposed handing substantial planning and infrastructure responsibilities to newly designated strategic authorities. The White Paper pledged to reinstate strategic planning across England, after years without a cross-boundary framework beyond London. It further set out intentions to finish the devolution map, establish a new layer of ‘strategic authorities’, and provide them with more coherent powers for planning, infrastructure, housing and growth. Key planning provisions Strategic authorities and tiers of devolution The Bill introduces a new class of Strategic Authority, spanning Combined authorities, Combined County authorities ( CCAs), the Greater London Authority, and specified unitary authorities where designated. These are arranged into three tiers: ...
Latest progress The Bill won third-reading approval in the Commons on 10 June 2025 by 306 votes to 174, clearing its final Commons obstacle, thereby completing its journey through that House. A Commons Library briefing issued on 5 June 2025 identified the main report-stage flashpoints and now serves as the peers’ baseline analysis considering the report stage. The Lords took receipt of the Bill on 12 June 2025 and granted it a second reading on 25 June 2025, paving the way for rigorous scrutiny. A total of four committee-stage days are timetabled: 17 July 2025, 24 July 2025, 2 September 2025 and 4 September 2025, on those dates. On 12 June 2025, Wild Justice lodged a judicial review contending that Part 3 unlawfully weakens habitats protection, with the Office for Environmental Protection joining as an interested party. See: LNB News...
In this issue: Town and village greens and commons Heritage and natural environment Buildings and Building Regulations Localism Housing Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Town and village greens and commons Rectification of village green register ( Cotham School v Bristol City Council) The claim, brought under CPR Part 8 and section 14(b) of the Commons Registration Act 1965 ( CRA 1965), sought to amend the village green register by removing land used for school sports and informal public recreation. Registration had been made despite the village green inspector’s recommendation to the contrary. Six grounds were advanced, including statutory incompatibility and that use was disputed and not as of right, owing to signage on the land and the claimant’s statements challenging unrestricted public access. The judge determined the land failed to meet the...
Note: the CPRC no longer distributes the underlying papers with the minutes, and consequently no documents explaining the matters discussed are supplied alongside this News Analysis. A copy of the minutes can be found here: Minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. Welcome, apologies and introductory remarks (item 1) The minutes of the 9 May 2025 meeting were approved (for more detail, see News Analysis: Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—9 May 2025). From the action log, the following items were recorded: Forms and standard orders—various strands of work remain in progress, and a new working group will be created. The Chair and Secretariat will finalise the finer details outside the committee. Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024—drafting was agreed under item 3 at the Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—9 May 2025, and the finalised draft is now...
Cotham School v Bristol City Council and another [2025] EWHC 1382 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling warrants close attention from village green practitioners, including those serving as independent inspectors appointed by commons registration authorities. In particular: as CA 2006, s 1 has not been commenced for the Bristol area, CRA 1965, s 14 remains available where land is entered as a village green (at paras [40]–[42]) the judge had earlier refused the City Council’s bid to participate separately in its landowning capacity as well as as the commons registration authority ( CRA), and comments on that and on whether it is proper for a CRA to do other than maintain neutrality in such matters (at paras [6]–[10]) the judge explains with clarity the method for determining such a claim, stressing the frailty of memory and the...
In this issue: Buildings and Building Regulations Planning policy Planning issues in energy projects Nationally significant infrastructure projects Housing Heritage and natural environment Planning policy Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Buildings and Building Regulations Welsh Government introduces Building Safety Bill with new regulatory regime The Welsh Government has presented the Building Safety ( Wales) Bill to the Senedd, creating a fresh regulatory framework for multi-occupied residential buildings. The scheme is anchored on three core principles: safety, accountability, and residents’ rights. It sits within a wider programme of reforms to improve building safety. See: LNB News 07/07/2025 32 and LNB News 08/07/2025 4. Planning policy Welsh Government publishes community guide on Strategic Development Plans The Welsh Government has issued guidance to help community and town councils, local groups and individuals engage with...
In this issue: Planning conditions, obligations and CIL Heritage and the natural environment When planning permission is required Buildings and the Building Regulations Planning applications and decisions Planning appeals and objections Planning matters in energy projects Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects Lex Talk®Planning: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Planning conditions, obligations and CIL CIL stop notices outside Limitation Act 1980 time limits ( Jones v Shropshire) In R (on the application of Captain Lee Jones) v Shropshire Council [2025] EWHC 365 ( Admin), the Planning Court concluded that the six-year period in section 9(1) of the Limitation Act 1980 ( LA 1980)—which governs actions to recover sums payable by virtue of an enactment—does not extend to the issuing by a collecting authority of a CIL stop notice under...
R (on the application of Captain Lee Jones) v Shropshire Council [2025] EWHC 365 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision carries significance for CIL enforcement under the CIL Regulations, SI 2010/948, and more generally for administrative enforcement by public authorities exercising statutory powers. The court concluded that, although the CIL Regulations do not prescribe any statutory deadline for serving a CIL stop notice to secure unpaid CIL, the six-year time limit in section 9(1) of the Limitation Act 1980 ( LA 1980) governing actions to recover sums due by virtue of an enactment does not apply. The practical consequence is that there is no limitation period on issuing a CIL stop notice. As a result, a collecting authority may deploy this measure to enforce outstanding CIL where the underlying development remains incomplete, even if an...
In this issue Nationally significant infrastructure projects Housing Marine planning Heritage and natural environment Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Nationally significant infrastructure projects Infrastructure Consent ( Compulsory Acquisition) ( Wales) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/691: This instrument outlines, among other matters, the pre-application steps to be undertaken before submitting to the Welsh Ministers any infrastructure consent application that includes a compulsory acquisition request. It comes into force on 15 December 2025. See: LNB News 17/06/2025 3. Infrastructure Consent ( Examination and Decision) ( Procedure) ( Wales) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/692: These Regulations provide for the examining authority, arrangements for preparing and carrying out the examination of applications, and the processes that follow the examination. They also set out additional and supplementary procedures where the proposed infrastructure consent order would authorise compulsory acquisition of land or rights over land. They take effect on 15 December 2025. See: LNB News...
In this issue: Nationally significant infrastructure projects Planning and Infrastructure Bill Obtaining, implementing and amending planning permission Planning applications and decisions When planning permission is needed Biodiversity Buildings and Building Regulations Housing Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Nationally significant infrastructure projects High Court clarifies the scope and procedure for the Secretary of State’s review of National Policy Statements ( Re Transport Action Network Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport) In R (on the application of Transport Action Network Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport [2025] EWHC 1273 ( Admin), the court held that any statutory consultation on a National Policy Statement ( NPS), or any review of one, must adhere to the ‘ Sedley principles’. Those principles require the exercise to occur while proposals remain at a ‘formative stage’, and impose a duty to give ‘conscientious consideration’ to responses. The court also made clear that the...
On 28th May 2025, the government issued a working paper inviting views on reforming site size thresholds in the planning system to better support housing delivery across different types of sites. It examines how varying site sizes should be treated within the planning system and considers removing barriers specific to developers in this part of the sector. Responses are invited by 9 July 2025. It is the government’s intention to implement changes to development thresholds through amendments to secondary legislation and to introduce other measures (eg a simplified biodiversity net gain ( BNG) metric). The paper sets out a tiered approach that groups residential developments into three thresholds: minor developments: projects with fewer than ten homes or on sites up to 0.5 hectares medium developments: a new proposed category for developments between 10 and 49 homes or up to one...
R (on the application of Shaman) v Lambeth London Borough Council [2025] EWHC 1372 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling provides useful guidance on construing the temporary permitted development rights in the Town and Country Planning ( General Permitted Development ( England) Order 2015 (the GPDO 2015), SI 2015/596, Sch 2 Pt 4, Class B, and on how that framework operates in tandem with express planning permissions. The judgment identifies several points of practical importance for practitioners, including: For GPDO 2015, SI 2015/596, Pt 4, Class B, the length of any proposed temporary use is assessed by the point at which the land in question returns to its customary use. Determining when the land has actually reverted to its former use therefore remains a key area of legal scrutiny The mere prospect of a future grant of...
Key points in the proposals The consultation seeks to fine‑tune the BNG framework to better suit minor, medium and brownfield schemes, ensuring biodiversity gains are both workable and effective across different development scales and contexts. Proposed changes to exemptions The government is weighing revisions to existing BNG exemptions to lessen burdens on low‑impact projects: Single‑dwelling exemption: substituting the current self‑build/custom build carve‑out with a wider exemption for single homes De minimis threshold: increasing the habitat impact exemption from 25 square metres to higher levels (e.g. 50, 100 or 200 square metres), enabling more minor schemes to proceed without BNG requirements Major development exemption: considering exempting everything except major developments from BNG, effectively returning to the pre‑2 April 2024 position The government is considering additional exemptions for: parks, public gardens and playing fields developments primarily aimed......
In this issue: Biodiversity Planning applications and decisions Nationally significant infrastructure projects Planning and flood risk Lex Talk®Planning: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Related Documents Biodiversity Biodiversity net gain for nationally significant infrastructure projects This piece reviews how biodiversity net gain ( BNG) duties are intended to be brought in for nationally significant infrastructure projects ( NSIPs) under the Environment Act 2021 ( EA 2021). BNG—requiring schemes to achieve at least a 10% uplift in biodiversity and secure it for 30 years—already applies to applications made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 ( TCPA 1990). The government has opened a consultation to roll BNG out to NSIPs, pushing commencement back from November 2025 to May 2026. It sets out the principal features of the scheme, flags distinctions from the TCPA 1990 framework—most notably the expectation that biodiversity gain plans are lodged sooner—and considers...
On 25 May 2025, the government issued a technical consultation proposing a statutory build-out framework and a fresh power enabling LPAs to refuse to determine applications where progress on existing sites has been unreasonably slow. Although provided for in the Levelling- Up and Regeneration Act 2023 ( LURA 2023), these provisions are not yet in force. Consultation What are the key points of the consultation? Mandating build-out statements at submission, outlining anticipated delivery rates and identified constraints Requiring commencement notices to be served before works start Insisting on annual progress reports throughout the build Empowering LPAs to decline to determine applications where developers have a poor local build-out record Setting online submission and publication duties to advance the government’s digital planning agenda The government aims to lay regulations to put these measures into effect ‘at the earliest practical...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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