LLG Awards 2018 Finalists Announced!

Publish date: 23/10/2018

Finalists in the LLG Awards 2018 are announced. Click to view the councils in with a chance of taking home a title on 9th November 2018 in London.

Governance Lawyer/Team of the Year

Emma Duncan, eastlaw

The City of Wolverhampton Legal Team

Litigation Lawyer/Team of the Year

Southampton & Fareham Legal Partnership, Litigation Team

Milton Keynes Council, Litigation Team

Kate Hiller, Warwickshire County Council

People Related Lawyer/Team of the Year

City & County of Swansea, Education Team

West Midlands Combined Authority, People Related Team

Warwickshire County Council, Young People's Legal Service

Milton Keynes Council, Legal (People) Team

Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, Children's Services (Community Law) Legal Team

Public/Private Partnership Lawyer/Team of the Year

Middlesbrough Borough Council, Legal Services Property Team

West Midlands Combined Authority, Legal Services

Gedling Borough Council, Legal Team

Milton Keynes Council, Contracts, Procurement and Governance Team.

Warwickshire County Council, Projects Team

Significant Contribution to Local Government Law and Practice

Jayne Francis-Ward, Retired Nottingham County Council

Paul Cummins, Milton Keynes Council

Dr Paul Feild, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Junior Lawyer of the Year

Samantha Amphlett, Warwickshire County Council

Naomi Rankin, nplaw

Nicola Morgan, Blackpool Borough Council

Tracey Sandel, West Midlands Combined Authority

Paige Ferris-Bedward, Milton Keynes Council

Local Government Legal Professional of the Year

Gary Dalton, Warwickshire County Council

Meurig Tiley, Milton Keynes Council

Suzan Yildiz, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Emma Duncan, eastlaw

Local Government Legal Team of the Year

eastlaw, North Norfolk District Council

Southampton & Fareham Legal Services Partnership

West Midlands Combined Authority

Milton Keynes Council

nplaw, Compulsory Purchase Order Team, Norfolk County Council

City of Wolverhampton Legal Team

Commercial Law Team, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making the LLG Awards 2018 happen!!

Blog

12 July 2019

Publish date: 12/07/2019

This week our CEO Deborah Evans hosted a live webinar on the subject of Climate Change with Tanya Corsie, CEO of iken.

We know that local authorities need to reduce emissions and improve carbon absorption. Friends of the earth have produced 33 recommendations for local authorities to consider when addressing climate change (read here) and set out how to achieve these through strategic actions such as a political commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; the development of carbon reduction packages and climate compliant strategies and plans.

There is also a plethora of actions available such as work-place changes; low emissions zones, requiring electric taxis, car sharing, fleet transfer to electric vehicles and integrated car reductions within the local plan. Revenue funding can be raised through workplace parking levy's, section 106 terms, inspection of the private rented sector and housing efficiency savings together with office energy use. Savings can be achieved through LED street lightening, renewable energy use (wind, solar), standard energy performance contracting terms to reduce emissions and requiring the production of bio-gas in waste management contracts.

Deborah surveyed those listening to the webinar and was intrigued to learn that nearly a third had declared a climate change emergency at their authority. Extinction Rebellion recently criticised a borough for implementing projects and plans they argued were inconsistent with that declaration. Caution is therefore required to ensure that every action is assessed and evaluated against the climate change parameters and policies within your authority to avoid such attention and lawyers can play a key role in that assessment.

What is the key message in all this? For Tanya, the removal of single use plastics is key. "You can make small changes and every single small change can have a big impact". Iken are progressive in their carbon reduction commitment and recently staff stopped purchasing balloons for parties. If I told you that a single plastic straw can take 200 years to decompose and that by 2050, it is estimated that plastic in the ocean will match the weight of fish in the ocean you might well agree. For Deborah, the key message is that local authorities should not wait for Government to enforce change by legislation before setting their own key policies and committing to carbon reduction by 2030. You need a strategy now to become greener with actions capable of yearly monitoring.

If you missed the webinar you can register to hear it here

Have a good weekend

Helen McGrath

Head of Public Affairs

Helen@llg.org.uk