The Court of Appeal has recently confirmed that cost capping orders for Aarhus Convention claims, which includes planning and other environmental judicial reviews, are inclusive of VAT. 

The available defences to local authority prosecutions for the non-compliance of planning enforcement notices are limited. The recent case of Zafar v Stoke-On-Trent City Council [2020] highlights such limitations and the importance of exercising your appeal rights.

Landowners will be keen to understand what limits can be imposed on telecoms operators who have equipment on their land.  However, they will be disappointed with the outcome of a recent case concerning a lease renewal under the Electronic Communications Code where the tenant operator was allowed extensive rights to install, upgrade and share the site.

The Court of Appeal has recently emphasised the importance of finality in judicial review proceedings and that unsuccessful parties, having failed in the High Court and refused permission to appeal, need to accept defeat.