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Access all areas: the ghost of Woolworths (Pt 1)

03 February 2023 / Victor Smith
Issue: 8011 / Categories: Features , Local government , Criminal
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Victor Smith ponders a recent case suggesting that the troublesome 2002 decision in Woolworths may still be unduly influential, despite the Court of Appeal having declared it wrongly decided
  • Considers the recent case of R (City of York Council) v AUH; R (Birmingham City Council) v BIY [2022] EWCA Crim 1113, from which it appears that the scope of a local authority’s power to prosecute for offences committed outside of their area is not as settled as it should be.

Ever since the troublesome decision of the Divisional Court in Brighton and Hove City Council v Woolworths plc [2002] EWHC 2565 (Admin) (Woolworths), there has been doubt as to whether, notwithstanding the clear words of s 222 of the Local Government Act 1972 (LGA 1972), local authorities have a power to prosecute for offences alleged to have been committed outside their area. Section 222(1) provides: ‘Where a local authority consider it expedient for the promotion or protection of the inhabitants of their area...

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NEWS
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Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
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