He said a local valuation tribunal was wrong in law when it decided 340 huts were exempt from the tax. The decision could affect thousands of holidaymakers around the country.. Benefit soars The amount of benefit paid to people in work has more than doubled over the past five years, figures publicised by a Labour MP show. Homes blight review Government officials are to investigate blight suffered by homeowners living along the planned route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and other major projects.

A working group will review the scope, cause and effects of blight and whether any changes can be made to arrangements for property purchase and compensation.. Beach huts taxed Owners of beach huts at Mudeford Sands, Christchurch, Dorset, are legally obliged to pay council tax, a High Court judge ruled. Brothers' ban lifted Coventry City Council abandoned its High Court legal action against John Finnie, 30, and his brother David, 27, who were banned in February last year from entering part of the Stoke Heath housing estate after allegations that they were connected with crime and were bringing fear to the neighbourhood.. Taxi death A taxi driver appeared before Hertford magistrates charged with causing death by dangerous driving after Carol Watkinson, 23, died last Friday after being trapped in his cab for more than 35 minutes in the River Stort in Sawbridgeworth Terence Williams, 55, was remanded on bail until 13 May..

Paul Moran, 32, alleges that he was walking away from his home in west London at about midnight in December 1992 when a police vehicle stopped and PC Keith Lloyd and PC Ian Whitely got out and seized him.. He was detained, along with a 16-year-old, at a house in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.The four weapons - two .22 calibre rifles and two .22 calibre handguns - had been stolen from Peter Preston, 67, last Friday. They were part of a collection kept in a secure box at Mr Preston's house close to the boy's home at Chalfont St Peter.. Police pay damages An Irish man was paid pounds 7,500 damages and costs by the Metropolitan Police after he claimed two officers beat him up and one racially abused him. But the tables were turned when the business was taken over by SCI of Texas, the biggest funeral company in the world..