Practice Summary

Neil King QC is the current head of Landmark Chambers. He was called to the Bar in 1980 and took silk in 2000. He joined 2 Mitre Court Buildings in 1982 and moved to Landmark Chambers in December 2003. He specialises in all aspects of Town and Country Planning, Environmental and Compulsory Purchase and Compensation law.

Neil has appeared at numerous public inquiries, in the Lands Tribunal, the High Court and Court of Appeal. Planning cases include airport and other infrastructure projects; proposals for waste incineration, landfill and quarrying; tall building proposals in London, including London Bridge Tower (the ‘Shards of Glass’), Doon Street tower and at Old Street/City Road; and many retail, warehouse club, hotel and housing schemes. Recent compulsory purchase cases include 10 major retail-led city and town centre redevelopment schemes. He has also advised on a wide range of compensation issues arising from the acquisition of land for regeneration, rail, road and flood relief schemes.

High Court and Court of Appeal cases include R (Al Fayed) v Tandridge DC (telecoms mast development), LB Hillingdon v ARC (limitation/estoppel on compensation claim), R (Lowther) v Durham CC (use of waste as a fuel), R (Hautot) v LB Wandsworth (validity of Battersea Power Station planning permissions), UKRA v Secretary of State (lawfulness of guidance on EPA conditions), and R (Friends of Lake District) v Secretary of State (power to withdraw call-in).

Recommendations in the Legal Press

Neil is ranked as a leading silk in both planning and environmental law in the 2009 edition of Chambers & Partners Guide, where he is described as a "powerful courtroom advocate", "clients salute his ability to discuss carefully with them the key issues of a case, and combine top-quality analysis with an excellent, client-friendly approach". He is also listed in the Legal 500 2008 and in Legal Experts 2008, and has been consistently ranked amongst the top five planning barristers by the annual Planning Magazine Law Survey.