News DAN KITWOOD / GETTY IMAGES Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark will consider Peterborough and Cambridge communities request for devolution New deal sought with government by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Rogue plumber jailed A firefighter and part-time plumber has been jailed after falsely claiming credentials aimed at making oil-fired heating and cooking systems safe. Gary Henry, 54, of Instow, North Devon, overcharged consumers for unsafe plumbing and heating work, and falsely claimed professional registration of OFTEC, a trade association for technicians working with oil-fired heating and cooking systems. Devon and Somerset Trading Standards launched an investigation after a number of complaints about his work. The court heard how, trading under the names of Gary Henry Ltd and Barnstaple Plumbing and Heating, Henry overcharged customers, invoiced for work that had not been done and falsely claimed that he was registered with OFTEC. Henry, who had been a plumber for 30 years alongside his job as a professional firefighter, was found guilty at Exeter Crown Court on three charges of fraud and three charges of contravening professional diligence under consumer protection law. He was given a two-year prison sentence. LENSCAP PHOTOGRAPHY / SHUTTERSTOCK Local leaders in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have asked government for a new deal on devolution. The request was sent to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, from the leaders of Cambridgeshires and Peterboroughs county, city and district councils, as well the Greater Cambridgeshire Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (GCGP LEP) and key public services. The 11 organisations are calling for discussions to look at devolving more powers locally, as well as exploring how the area could benet nancially, and join up social care, health and public safety across authorities an agenda that potentially could involve trading standards as a preventative agency. Emphasis was put on the need for support from local businesses for devolution and the fact that conversations have started with companies. In their letter, leaders from Cambridgeshire Public Services say: We strongly support your bottom up approach to devolution. Each area is different, and there can be no standard blueprint. We would want to work in partnership with you to create a devolution deal that delivers more and better for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and for the country as a whole. Local leaders hope devolution will give both areas more scope for aligning the nationally and locally set objectives, accountabilities and nancial incentives in health and social care across local authority, NHS and other partners, to deliver a better and more integrated service for residents, and to drive out avoidable costs and perverse incentives. This might also cover budgets vital to public health, such as sport. There is a similar expectation for public safety. Find out more about the proposal here. Car parking firm fined 6,000 A rogue valet-parking business operating at Gatwick Airport has been caught and fined 6,000 after a trading standards investigation. Air Parking promised customers their cars would be securely parked in an area that was manned 24 hours a day. The reality was that while customers jetted off on their holidays the firm parked their vehicles in unsecured fields, leaving many with the windows down and doors unlocked. West Sussex Trading Standards even found a box filled with car keys lying in an unsecured field. In August, directors of the Crawleybased business, Tariq Wasi and Imran Shahid, pleaded guilty at Worthing Magistrates Court to eight charges of misleading consumers under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Magistrates fined the company a total of 6,000 for the offences, ordered it to pay costs of 1,070.36, a victim surcharge of 120 and court costs of 180. Trading standards launched its investigation into the business in 2013 after customer complaints. Lambeth first borough to ban laughing gas Lambeth Council has become the rst authority in London to ban laughing gas, which is being used as a legal high by some people in the borough. The council has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to tackle laughing gas as a specic issue. Essentially, the move bans the use and supply of legal highs in public areas across the whole of the borough and anybody caught breaching the order could face a maximum ne of 1,000. The new rules came into force in Lambeth on 17 August. Jane Edbrooke, Lambeths cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: Legal highs are simply not safe we saw that just days ago with the death of a teenager who had inhaled laughing gas. It is our duty to keep our residents safe and this new order should deter people from supplying and using legal highs in the borough. The litter and antisocial behaviour associated with certain legal highs has also blighted areas like Vauxhall and Clapham, and now we have the power to do something about it. Under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014, local authorities have the power to come up with their own laws to tackle antisocial behaviour through PSPOs. Lambeths new PSPO is being closely watched by the Home Ofce drugs unit after the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which stated that councils should address antisocial behaviour associated with laughing gas through local court orders. Lambeth rst started receiving complaints from residents about laughing gas in the summer of 2014 and monitored incidents closely. There have been 57 separate reports on legal highs by police in the borough over the past 12 months, with incidents including robbery, theft, antisocial behaviour and sexual assault. A month-long consultation on the new PSPO ended on 13 July and showed that 63 per cent of respondents were in favour of the move to curb the use of laughing gas.