Public Sector

We recognise that public authorities have to carefully balance the demand for vitally important public services with significant ongoing budgetary pressures. We are dedicated to supporting public sector clients and really understand the issues, culture and the importance of maximising opportunities for the future. As our clients take on greater role in driving and delivering investment and growth in their areas, we are working with them to develop new ways to maintain services by realising commercial opportunities and innovative ways of working.

Our team includes a number of lawyers with a strong track record of working in the sector as they have had senior in-house roles in local government, spent time on secondment or worked extensively with public sector clients. This means we understand your core principles and values and the need to find solutions within an ever increasing regulatory framework. We believe in the importance of developing strong partnerships with our clients as the foundation for providing expert legal support and guidance. Our advice is always practical, commercially focused and tailored to meet your needs and budget.

The breadth of our expertise means we offer support to public sector clients delivering a variety of projects and regulatory functions including social care, education, regeneration housing, highways, infrastructure, devolution schemes and waste. As a result, we work with an increasing number of local authorities and their associated companies covering a wide variety of specialist areas including:

• Commercial property matters including acquisitions, disposals and landlord and tenant matters
• Property litigation and dispute resolution
• Planning including compulsory purchase matters
• Governance and strategy Judicial review
• Projects
• Commercial contracts including outsourcing
• Public procurement
• State aid
• Service delivery models including innovative corporate structuring arrangements, joint ventures, partnerships and shared services arrangements
• Commercial dispute resolution and debt recovery
• Employment, TUPE and pensions
• Town and village greens
• General highway matters
• Energy

We advise Unitary, County, Town and Parish Councils in addition to a large innovative public sector owned service delivery group. Our multi-disciplinary team is highly regarded and noted by Chambers and Partners (2019) for its “speed of response, excellent advice and value-for-money service”.

Our recent public sector experience includes:

• Advising on a significant transaction for a large local authority owned group of companies in connection with the sale of its innovative highways joint venture company.
• Governance and strategic procurement advice in connection with a number of high value works, services and supply contracts.
• Advising on a local authority owned group in relation to the establishment of a service delivery and financing arrangements in connection with a high value outsourcing arrangement involving a multi-million pound capital funding package for the acquisition of a property portfolio for the provision of temporary accommodation provision for the homeless.
• Advising on a high value sub-contract agreement in connection with the provision of public bus services.
• Drafting and negotiating an agreement for lease for the construction of a new car park including the provision of collateral warranties and financial security against non-performance.
• Advising a private landowner about trespass by an adjoining property developer who had incorporated part of his land into a redevelopment scheme, and who had also tipped tons of waste material onto his land creating a risk of landslip. We obtained an injunction, declaration as to the correct boundary and an order requiring the developer to pay the significant cost of remedial works.
• Representing a town council in a public inquiry about a modification order to record a bridleway through one of its parks, and a diversion order.
• Advising acquiring authorities and claimants on the promotion and implementation of a major highways development consent order.
• Providing draft heads of terms for the lease of a playing field for consideration by a town council.