Reuben Taylor KC

Call: 1990

Silk: 2014

Reuben Taylor KC specialises in all aspects of Planning, Environmental, Compulsory Purchase and Compensation Law.

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Practice summary

Planning

Cross-practice

Practice Summary

Reuben practices throughout England and Wales and acts for many leading developers as well as central Government, local authorities and individuals. He has particular expertise in the High Court and Court of Appeal, and in advisory work and advocacy on planning appeals.

He has developed a particularly strong reputation for dealing with noise, road traffic, air quality and other technical environmental impact issues.

He has been an editor of the Sweet & Maxwell Planning Law Encyclopaedia and a contributor to Atkin’s Court Forms and Butterworths’ Compulsory Purchase & Compensation Service and he was the joint Head of Landmark Chambers from 2020 – 2023. In his spare time, Reuben loves to play bass guitar in a hard rock band and tennis with his teenage boys. 

Planning

London: Reuben regularly advises the Mayor of London in relation to planning matters and to represent the Mayor/GLA at planning appeals. This included the appeal for Newcombe house in Notting Hill Gate. Reuben successfully represented Queens Park Rangers Football club the Court of Appeal in defending planning permission for a new training ground within Metropolitan Open land (i.e. Green Belt): Brown v Ealing LBC [2018]

Tall Buildings: Reuben has been involved in a number of contentious appeals relating to tall buildings including the proposals at Kensington Forum, Newcombe House in Notting Hill Gate, the Whitechapel Estate, Sainsbury’s Whitechapel (successfully defending Tower Hamlet’s refusal of permission) and a tower in Edmonton for St Modwen.

Technical Matters: Reuben is adept at dealing with complex and technical matters. He regularly advises on the intricacies of CiL. In 2020, he secured the quashing of a statutory instrument on behalf of the London Duck Tours company relating to navigational safety of passenger vessels on the Thames. The Secretary of State for Transport consented to judgment before trial.

Commercial/Retail

Reuben has extensive experience in the commercial and retail fields. He has been advising the development partners at Brent Cross in relation to its redevelopment, he regularly acts and advises Hammerson. He also acts for Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl and other retailers. He was successful in one of the leading cases on competing schemes: R. (on the application of Hawksworth Securities Plc) v Peterborough City Council [2016]. Reuben also successfully defended the grant of consent on behalf of developers in WM Morrisons Supermarket Plc v Hounslow LBC [2018] and in R. (on the application of Luna Stockton Sarl) v Stockton-on-Tees BC [2018].

Heritage

Notable experience in the heritage field includes winning the controversial Clerkenwell Close appeal for Amin Taha, defending the consent for development at Wolverton for St Modwen which involved demolition of some George Stephenson Railway Sheds and leading the appeal for planning permission for enabling development to preserve the most important existing collection of Samuel Wyatt buildings in existence at the Doddington Estate.

Infrastructure

Reuben has extensive experience spanning his entire career relating to infrastructure development including promoting the A303 improvement at Stonehenge for Highways England, continuing to advise Gatwick Airport Limited in relation to its plans for runway expansion, presenting the evidence on noise, ground settlement and highways on behalf of the Government for Crossrail and representing BAA at the Heathrow Terminal 5 Inquiry.

Residential

Throughout his career Reuben has advised and represented residential developers including, Bellway, Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson, Bloor Homes and Linden Homes. He has been advising Persimmons Homes in relation to their large site SW of Trowbridge. Reuben won for Corinthian Mountfield Ltd in the Court of Appeal in Shirley v Secretary of State [2019] an important decision relating to air quality and call-in. Reuben successfully defended the grant of permission for residential use of a 33-hectare site in the Green Belt: R. (on the application of Smech Properties Ltd) v Runnymede BC [2016]. In the same year Reuben won for Bloor Homes in Oadby and Wigston BC v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2016] a case relating to the interpretation of the NPPF.

Student Accommodation: He has secured consents on numerous sites for student accommodation and regularly acts for Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Sites he has recently secured permission on include Mill Road, Cambridge for McLaren Group, 166 bedspaces in a Conservation Area St. David’s Hill, Exeter, Devon and Pritchatts Park for the University of Birmingham.

Cross-practice

Landmark's barristers often work at the intersection of our core practice areas; bringing a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience to bear on a particular dispute or issue facing a client.

Our focus is always on achieving the best possible outcome for our client. By viewing the client's objectives in a holistic way - and not purely through the lens of one rigidly-defined legal area - we deliver the best possible advice and representation in complex matters that engage multiple specialist areas of law. 

Whether it's providing support as an individual cross-practice barrister or a cross-disciplinary team of Landmark counsel, we are able to draw on an outstanding array of complementary skillsets and knowledge bases. This often achieves a better result than instructing multiple barristers from different specialist sets. This also improves the quality of client care through increased levels of communication, quicker response times, and a coordinated approach to clerking and fees, made possible by our team-based cross-practice approach.

Please contact our practice management team for more information.

Energy

EU Law post-Brexit

Highways and Rights of Access

Local Government

Public Works Projects

Telecommunications

Specialisms

Commercial/Retail

Heritage

Infrastructure

Residential

Compulsory Purchase and Compensation

Development Consent Orders

Development Contracts and Overage

Development Contribution: Section 106 and CIL

Development Plans and other planning policy

Energy

Environment

Green Belt

Highways, Footpaths and Rights of Way

Marine Planning and Harbour Orders

Minerals and Waste

Neighbourhood Planning

Planning Appeals, Inquiries and Hearings

Planning Crime

Planning Enforcement and Injunctions

Planning Judicial and Statutory Reviews

Transport Orders and Parliamentary Bills

Specialisms

Energy

EU Law post-Brexit

Highways and Rights of Access

Local Government

Public Works Projects

Telecommunications

"
Very commercially astute and practical in his advice."

Legal 500

Chambers Top Ranked UK Bar 2024 Uk leading silk 2024

Qualifications and achievements

Qualifications

  • Falmer School, Brighton
  • Law with LLB (Hons) from the University of Wales - 1989

Awards

  • Sir Raymond Phillips Award recipient

Recommendations

Practice Managers

Contact our friendly and helpful Practice Managers for more information about our barristers and services or to make an enquiry.

Kevin Squires New background

Kevin Squires

Senior Practice Manager

020 7421 1351

Jason Allen new

Jason Allen

Practice Manager

020 7421 1306

Noel Pudney new

Noel Pudney

Assistant Practice Manager

020 7421 1398

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