Local Authority round-up – 21 March 2025
21st March, 2025
Our Local Authority round up provides brief summaries of topical information on a weekly basis, to keep you aware of the changes and updates relevant to you.
Regulatory
Construction of the UK’s largest public sector prison underway
Construction at HMP Highpoint will boost the prison’s capacity by more than 50 percent, supporting the Government’s plan to deliver 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.
The expansion will include innovative workshops and teaching facilities to train prisoners with skills to secure employment on release. It is reported that the new facility will be fully operational by summer 2027.
The build will help provide an economic boost to East Anglia by creating a large number of jobs during construction and over 200 permanent jobs at the prison once built.
This capital expansion will work alongside the Independent Sentencing Review to ensure that the most serious offenders are given a custodial sentence.
For more information please click here.
Health and Social Care
Government intends to expand Further Faster Programme
In September 2024, the Government introduced the Further Faster Programme which sent top clinicians to NHS hospitals to serve communities with the highest levels of economic inactivity.
It is reported that from October 2024 to January 2025 waiting lists in these areas have fell 130% faster than the national average. A total of 37,000 cases have been removed from the waiting lists in those 20 areas.
Following the success of the programme, the Government has confirmed that similar teams will be rolled out to additional providers this year to boost NHS productivity and cut waiting times further.
For more information please click here.
Housing
Planning and Infrastructure Bill introduced to Parliament
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill (the Bill) has now been introduced to Parliament, and is intended to introduce significant measures to accelerate planning decisions and drive economic growth.
The key measures announced by the Bill include (among others):
- The introduction of a national scheme of delegation to establish which applications be sent to a committee for consideration as well as ensure mandatory training for planning committee members.
- A Nature Restoration Fund will be established to ensure that developers can comply with their environmental obligations more efficiently by pooling contributions to fund larger environmental interventions.
- The Compulsory Purchase Process, which allows land to be acquired for projects that are in the public interest, will be improved to ensure important developments delivering public benefits can progress.
- The National Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIP) regime will be streamlined to reduce bureaucracy. The Government also intends to overhaul the process by which decisions on major infrastructure projects can be challenged to reduce the volume of ‘meritless’ objections.
For more information please click here.
Upcoming events
Healthcare Employment Law Update
As specialists in healthcare employment law, we will be delivering, on the 8th April at 10am, an employment law update covering recent issues facing employers in the healthcare sector.
We will look in particular at the case of Higgs v Farmor’s School, which dealt with discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief.
To book your place please click here.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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