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25 September 2026
Issue: 8178 / Categories: Legal News , Civil way , Procedure & practice
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NLJ this week: Rules, risks & red tape

New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way

Writing in NLJ this week, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist, says English planning applicants should lodge promptly before fees rise in December, with local authorities able to set cost-reflective charges and a major section 73 application reaching £3,150.

Elsewhere, Coal Pension Properties v Mace Living shows why an old N244 form did not authorise service of a claim form by email: PD 6A requires an express check on electronic-service limits. The High Court refused retrospective validation.

Gold also highlights the 30 October start of qualifying unions’ physical and digital workplace-access regime, enforced through the Central Arbitration Committee, and new transparency duties for housing associations.

He ends with a warning to expert witnesses: adverse findings fairly put in cross-examination give them no general right of appeal.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys—Maggie Kwok & George Weston

Harneys senior leadership appointments

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths—Keith Browne & Jim Jordan

Freeths strengthens London Construction and Engineering practice with two strategic senior hires

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins—Laura Moss

Anthony Collins announces strategic hire to deepen skills base in the social business sector

NEWS
Part-time status need only be an effective cause of less favourable treatment, rather than the sole cause, the Supreme Court has held in Augustine v Data Cars
Britain’s new acknowledgement that Israel’s occupation is unlawful, and accompanying settlement-goods ban and sanctions, is significant but overdue, argue Danny Friedman KC and Victor Kattan in NLJ this week
New planning fee rises, wider trade union access rights and a service-by-email trap feature in Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way
Existing defamation law can respond to AI ‘hallucinations’, but allocating responsibility will prove harder where outputs reach users without human intervention
The High Court has upheld a rare successful serious-irregularity challenge after an arbitrator relied on an implied term neither party had advanced
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