Welcome to the National Litigation and Licensing Group of LLG
We represent LLG with a number of stakeholder organisations including the Institute of Licensing, the Local Government Association and Public Health England, working closely with them to ensure that we can contribute our knowledge and experience to help shape policy and legislation.
We deliver training and speak at conferences and round-tables, highlighting both the challenges we see in our roles in local government and the expertise that local government lawyers bring to the discussion.
We also support the LGA peer challenge programme, spending time within councils to identify and address issues and challenge progress across a range of themes.
National meetings for litigation and licensing are organised through the LLG lunchtime webinar programme, offering participants an opportunity to hear from experts on key topics and to share their own knowledge and learning.
To join any of the national groups go to "My LLG" hub and "My national interest groups" tab where you can also see the groups that you are a member of.
On 27th November 2024 we are holding a joint webinar between the national groups for governance and also litigation and licensing to look at the implications of Walk Safe Security Services Ltd v London Borough of Lewisham [2024] EWHC 1787 (Admin). The speaker will be Matt Lewin of Cornerstone Chambers who was junior counsel in the case.
The Walk Safe Judgment held that under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Licensing Act (Hearings) Regulations 2005 licensing committees in England may hold licensing hearings remotely.
The Judgment notes the case of R (Hertfordshire County Council) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2021] EWHC 1093 (Admin) had confirmed that local authority meetings convened pursuant to Section 101(1)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 could not be remote. The reasons given related to the interpretation of the meeting requirements under Schedule 12 of the 1972 Act.
However the Walk Safe Judgment confirms that Section 101(15) of the 1972 Act excludes functions under the 2003 Act from the scope of 101(1)(a) of the 1972 Act, with the 2003 Act containing a separate scheme of delegation for functions including meetings of the licensing committee established under Section 6 of the 2003 Act. As meetings of the Licensing Committee are excluded from the 1972 Act, R (Hertfordshire County Council) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2021] EWHC 1093 (Admin) did not apply.
We look forward to you joining us for the webinar.
On 10th October 2024 between 12.00 and 13.00, Henry Bermingham, partner at Weightmans specialising for the last 25 years in public sector litigation and claims, will be the guest speaker for the online Litigation and Licensing National Lead Meeting.
The presentation, entitled “The Litigator’s Life – Central Government Change and Effects on Litigation” will be a horizon scanning piece on the likely effects of the new Government’s policy on local authority litigation, including an examination of both the Government’s manifesto strategy and the King’s Speech.
We hope you will join us for this interesting and thought-provoking discussion.
Rob Cowan - Litigation National Lead
Rob is a senior solicitor working for a local authority in South-East England dealing with all areas of litigation and licensing. Rob is passionate about improving networking and training opportunities for litigation and licensing lawyers and promoting the high quality and often complex work conducted by legal advisers in this areas of law.
