Planning, environment & climate law

We represent all parties involved in compulsory purchase projects, including acquiring authorities, landowners, tenants and objectors.

We provide advice at all stages of the project, including written submissions, representation at hearings and negotiating compensation claims.

We advise acquiring authorities on how best to achieve the proposed development while avoiding the potential legal pitfalls. As well as representing traditional acquiring authorities such as planning authorities, we have also advised renewable energy operators who may benefit from compulsory purchase powers under generating licences.

We have experience in compulsory purchase projects involving road schemes, bridges, energy infrastructure, and urban renewal.

The success of all development projects is dependent on planning. We provide planning law advice to developers, landowners and other interested parties at all stages of the development process. The most common services we provide include:

• Making representations on and participating in hearings and inquiries concerning emerging local development plans.
• Advising on the availability of permitted development rights.
• Objecting to planning applications.
• Applying for certificates of lawfulness of existing or proposed use.
• Carrying out legal audits of planning applications, pre-application consultation exercises, and environmental impact assessments.
• Applying for ‘Section 42 planning permissions’ (applications to change the conditions of existing planning permission).
• Negotiating section 75 agreements, including requirements for developer contributions, decommissioning bonding and roads contributions.

We represent all parties involved in planning enforcement, including planning authorities, landowners and other occupiers.

We provide advice at all stages, including investigation of potential breaches, negotiation in advance of formal enforcement, written appeals and representation at hearings.

When representing planning authorities, we advise on general enforcement strategy, using the most appropriate enforcement tools, claiming under performance bonds where available, taking direct action and recovering costs, and liaising with prosecution authorities.

We advise property owners and occupiers, ranging from individual homeowners to international energy companies. We provide early advice on the chances of successfully resisting enforcement action, robustly defend your position where the prospects are reasonable, and advise on alternatives to formal enforcement where the prospects are low.

We have experience in planning enforcement ranging from extensions to houses, conversion from residential to short term letting, retail and office developments, wind farms, quarries, and open case coal sites.

We are recognised as a leading public law litigation practice with strong planning and environmental litigation credentials. We have an outstanding reputation for handling complex ad hoc and high-profile planning and environmental disputes, acting on pivotal cases for a wide range of clients: from government bodies, to environmental campaign groups, to major corporate concerns.

We regularly represent clients in planning appeals, in judicial review challenges concerning planning, environmental and climate change issues and at public inquiries. We have significant experience of advising and representing clients on the full suite of issues and legal challenges that may arise in relation to development projects, including impacts on built, natural and historic environments.

Our extensive experience in representing clients at public local inquiries is particularly strong in relation to renewables developments, where issues raised often include the balance of benefit of the renewable energy source (ever more important in light of climate change commitments, including following commitments made at COP26) and other important factors such as peat/carbon preservation/restoration, impact on protected land, plants and wildlife and consequences for the historic environment. Our experience in acting for those with commercial interests, planning authorities and statutory consultees gives the team insights from all perspectives and broad experience to draw upon.

Working closely with Harper Macleod’s commercial real estate, corporate and banking teams and the corporate and banking teams of other UK and international law firms, we provide planning law support for a range of transactions.

In property transactions, we carry out planning due diligence to ensure the property benefits from the planning permission expected by the purchaser. We also advise on planning promotions agreements, suspensive planning conditions and planning warranties.

We regularly undertake planning due diligence to support business acquisitions, investments and other corporate transactions. We have particular experience advising purchasers of renewable energy projects, including onshore and offshore wind, hydro, solar and battery storage.

With banking transactions, we ensure that the security subjects have the planning permissions required to support the security value. We also advise banks and other funders on requests for consent to Section 75 agreements.