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Tracy Lovejoy

Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill: Changes to the Enforcement Regime

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which followed the Planning for the Future White Paper of 2020 and the Levelling Up White Paper...

17/05/22
Nicola Gooch

The Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill: Highlights, Headlines and Henry the Eighth

On 11 May 2022,* the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill was placed before Parliament.  I am writing this post on the day of the bill's...

12/05/22
Nicola Gooch

Does the Queen’s Speech deliver on Levelling-up, Planning Reform and the Environment?

There is a lot to say on the content, or lack of it, of the Queen's Speech. The Planning Bill is officially dead. In its place we are...

10/05/22
Nicola Gooch

Never Underestimate a Droid: The "National Digital Mapping Platform" and the digitisation of the planning system

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, the department formerly known as MHCLG, launched a consultation paper that promised a radical...

04/05/22
Joanne Moseley

Five free resources to help your organisation support peri-menopausal and menopausal staff

Last night, Channel 4 aired the second of its fascinating programmes about the menopause: Sex, Mind and the Menopause.  In the space of a...

03/05/22
Joanne Moseley

Shift patterns, childcare and indirect sex discrimination claims

Many women ask to adjust their hours when they return from maternity leave in order to meet their childcare obligations. You have a duty...

03/05/22
Joanne Moseley

Redundancy: employer using 'focus' as part of selection criteria discriminated against mother of four

In Long v  British Gas, the tribunal had to determine whether the selection criteria the employer used to determine who to make redundant...

28/04/22
Elizabeth Thomson

What does the Economic Crime Act mean for lenders?

Polly Seale and I answer key questions about the new register. The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 received royal...

27/04/22
Melanie Bancroft

Manufacturing and collaborative R&D - Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha work together on standardised battery

As large manufacturers begin to see the benefits in collaborative R&D including lower development costs, time to market reductions, wider...

27/04/22
Nicola Gooch

Signs of Stress: What do the cracks in the planning system mean for planning reform and the levelling up agenda?

Over the last few months, I have noticed a steady drip of stories which should really trouble Ministers at DLUHC, assuming that they ever...

27/04/22
Joanne Moseley

EAT decides that employee who took voluntary redundancy could claim unfair dismissal

In White v HC-One Oval Ltd the EAT had to decide if an employee who had taken voluntary redundancy could pursue an unfair dismissal...

21/04/22
Elizabeth Thomson

Limiting and excluding liability in your professional appointments

The recent challenges the industry has experienced are expected to continue into 2022. Coupled with the issues some consultants are...

20/04/22
Jill Crawford

Net Zero Strategy: Friend of the Earth's legal challenge granted permission

In January of this year, Friends of the Earth, Client Earth and the not for profit Good Law Project launched separate judicial review...

20/04/22
Nicola Gooch

Faster, Higher, Stronger….Together: Is it time to bring back the Planning Olympics?

I stumbled across a quite interesting piece of trivia over the bank holiday weekend:* Town Planning used to be an Olympic Sport.  Between...

19/04/22
Claire Petricca-Riding

The Energy Security Strategy – Providing very little security at all

Everyone in the energy sector – from humble planning and environmental lawyers such as myself to CEO’s of energy organisations have been...

08/04/22
Nicola Gooch

Jigsaw Puzzle Politics: The case for a more holistic approach to planning

I have spent a lot of time over the last week pondering why there are so many - completely disjointed - statutory regimes which overlay...

08/04/22
Elizabeth Thomson

Post Pandemic Business on the Move

Tim Rayner is Joint Head of Real Estate Disputes at Irwin Mitchell and Co Heads the Office Occupier Group The announcement by Currys last...

07/04/22
Joanne Moseley

Government rejects compulsory ethnic pay gap reporting

Last year we speculated about whether the government was going to compel large employers to report on their ethnic pay gaps after it told...

06/04/22
Charlotte Hargreaves

A not so minor pentatonic predicament resolved: Ed Sheeran wins at the High Court

With the judgment published, the battle between the respective writers of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ and Sami Switch’s ‘Oh Why’ has made...

06/04/22
Irwin Mitchell

A smart approach to ESG – practical tips for GCs

Environment, social and governance (“ESG”) issues are more important than ever and it’s essential for business leaders to have a clear...

05/04/22
Joanne Moseley

New guidance on self-isolation and reducing the spread of COVID-19: implications for the education sector

COVID-19 continues to cause widespread disruption across schools and colleges. Leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to cover...

04/04/22
Charlotte Hargreaves

NFTs in the music industry and your intellectual property

The recent notoriety of HitPiece’s website, positioning itself as a new platform for the trading of music related NFTs, caused outrage...

04/04/22
Joanne Moseley

New guidance on self-isolation and reducing the spread of COVID-19

Despite the fact that 1 in 13 people are currently estimated to have COVID-19, universal free testing has ended in England. Anyone who...

03/04/22
Joanne Moseley

Discrimination: increase in injury to feelings awards

Individuals who bring successful discrimination claims are entitled to be compensated for the upset and hurt they have suffered by way of...

03/04/22
Nicola Gooch

A week is a long time in planning.... so here is a quick(ish) round up of events

The somewhat anti-climactic Spring Statement has been followed by a week so packed full of planning news that I couldn't decide what to...

31/03/22
Joanne Moseley

Computer says no: unpicking the employment risks of AI

Last week several newspapers ran a story about three make-up artists who had been 'dismissed by algorithm' during a redundancy exercise....

30/03/22
Charlotte Hargreaves

The inevitable trequel? 'Schrems III', the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework, and a question of durability

In welcome news for EU and US businesses and organisations, a Privacy Shield 2.0 (Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework) has been agreed...

29/03/22
Jill Crawford

The Spring Statement - what’s in it for the environment

The two main announcements from the Spring Budget of 2022 today for the environment were a 5p cut in fuel duty and the cut to zero in the...

23/03/22
Nicola Gooch

The Spring Statement and the Housing Affordability Crisis

The Chancellor has just left the podium, having delivered yet another set of fiscal measures in what remain unprecedented times. The...

23/03/22
Jill Crawford

The OEP's draft strategy and enforcement policy - views so far

On 25th January 2022 the Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) opened its consultation seeking views on its draft Strategy and draft...

23/03/22