Legal

Councillors are expected to approve a redevelopment of the Leicester City stadium, which will see its capacity expanded to 40,000 seats.Under proposals submitted to Leicester City Council, King Power Stadium would gain new facilities, including a hotel, commercial and residential space, a multi-storey car park and a club retail store,…

A man has been jailed, and three others handed suspended sentences, for their involvement in a £250,000 construction tax fraud conspiracy in Northern Ireland. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said the four were charged after its investigators found false claims for tax repayments of £260,455.68 had been submitted to the…

The new prime minister will consider curtailing the powers of the Planning Inspectorate amid concerns that it is “too easy” for the body to overturn councils’ decisions. In her first Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Liz Truss was asked why the inspectorate had the power to overrule environmental safeguards put in…

Two firms have been fined a combined total of £324,000, after an 18-year-old worker was crushed by a van. P&R Plant Hire and D Brown received fines for breaching health and safety laws, after teenager Josh Disdel died four years ago. Construction managers employed by both firms have also been…

Construction firm Mulalley must pay £10.8m in damages and costs to a housing association over defective cladding. Martlet Homes, a subsidiary of Hyde Housing Group, won a case in July regarding five tower blocks in Gosport, Hampshire. At the time, Judge Stephen Davies awarded £8m to Martlet, ruling that Mulalley…

A timber company has been fined £80,000 after a worker fell through a stairwell and fractured two vertebrae. On 14 May 2018, a 49-year-old driver and warehouse operative was working on a barn conversion project in a village near Okehampton, Devon, which was being converted for rental use. The worker,…

Contractors must take steps to protect themselves legally against unpredictable inflation-driven cost increases in labour and materials, lawyers have warned. Andrew Boccoli, a director in the commercial property department at Edinburgh law firm Lindsays, said the days of fixed-price contracts could be over as firms sought to protect themselves against…

A rail maintenance operative suffered “life changing” injuries when a stationary mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) was hit by a crane in the second such incident involving the same subcontractors, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has found. According to a report released by the RAIB yesterday, Network Rail had…

Insurers and the government have developed a new insurance approach that could speed up removals of unsafe cladding, such as that involved in the Grenfell Tower disaster. The International Underwriting Association (IUA) said it hoped to resolve what had been a “difficult” market for firms seeking cover. It worked with…

Major infrastructure projects across the country are set to be fast-tracked through a new planning system, the government has announced. Projects to build infrastructure deemed “nationally significant” could be given shorter deadlines to pass through the planning process, levelling-up secretary Greg Clark said. Infrastructure works that could be affected by…