Public Liability Issues Facing Local Councils

“Grounded in the urban politics of the 21st Century world-wide, this thoughtful volume hooks urban food – and especially its production – to social justice in a realistic and manageable way.” —Diana Lee-Smith, Mazingira Institute, Kenya “An excellent international overview of urban food democracy and governance, with impressive geographical reach.” —Andre Viljoen, University of Brighton, UK This edited collection explores urban food democracy as part of a broader policy-based approach to sustainable urban development. Conceptually, governance and social justice provide the analytical framework for a varied array of contributions which critically address issues including urban agriculture, smart cities, human health and wellbeing and urban biodiversity. Some chapters take the form of thematic, issue-based discussions, where others are constituted by empirical case studies. Contributing authors include both academic experts and practitioners who hail from a wide range of disciplines, professions and nations. All offer original research and robust consideration of urban food democracy in cities from across the Global North and South. Taken as a whole, this book makes a significant contribution to understanding the potential enabling role of good urban governance in developing formal urban food policy that is economically and socially responsive and in tune with forms of community-driven adaptation of space for the local production, distribution and consumption of nutritious food.

This well-established and popular work provides a comprehensive survey of the legal liabilities of UK local authorities. It comprises an invaluable overview of the nature and extent of the liability of local authorities, together with specialist chapters on the core areas of activity, including education, social services, occupier's liability, employer's liability, highways, environmental damage, and trees. This sixth edition has been extensively revised and updated to take account of the latest developments, including: the extent of the common law duty of care owed by police to victims of crime and duties under the UK's Human Rights Act 1998 (Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police) and the duty of care owed by local authorities where performing statutory powers (Furnell v Flaherty) * vicarious liability in abuse cases (JGE v Trustees of Portsmouth RC Diocesan Trust) and whether local authorities owe a non-delegable duty of care to children in foster care (NA v Nottinghamshire County Council) * the development of the non-delegable duty owed by schools (Woodland v Essex County Council) and the duty of schools for activities away from school (Wilkins-Shaw v Fuller) * the requirement of notice of disrepair in cases of statutory covenants (Edwards v Kumarasamy) and various cases on the duty owed by occupiers and those running activities * coverage of various cases on UK Workplace Regulations and the implication of section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 * the latest case-law dealing with the duty to maintain and statutory defense under sections 41 and 58 of the Highways Act 1980 (TR v Devon County Council and various cases) * the measured duty of care in cases of natural nuisance (Vernon Knight Associates v Cornwall CC and various cases) * foreseeability in cases of tree root subsidence (Berent v Family Mosaic Housing, Robbins v LB Bexley, Khan v Harrow Council). [Subject: Public Law]

Conflicts of interest in both the public and private sectors have become a major matter of public concern world-wide. The OECD Guidelines define a conflict of interest as occurring when a public official has private-capacity interests which could improperly influence the performance of their official duties and responsibilities. However, identifying a specific conflict of interest in practice can be difficult. And resolving the conflicting interests appropriately in a particular case is something that most people find even more challenging. The Toolkit focuses on specific techniques, resources and strategies for: Identifying, managing and preventing conflict-of-interest situations more effectively; and Increasing integrity in official decision-making, which might be compromised by a conflict of interest. This Toolkit provides non-technical, practical help to enable officials to recognise problematic situations and help them to ensure that integrity and reputation are not compromised. The tools themselves are provided in generic form. They are based on examples of sound conflict-of-interest policy and practice drawn from various OECD member and non-member countries. They have been designed for adaptation to suit countries with different legal and administrative systems. FURTHER READING: Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service: OECD Guidelines and Country Experiences