Planning and Infrastructure

Expertise

Unbeatable in their field Legal 500

Meet the team

Planning and Infrastructure

Landmark were awarded the Planning/Environment Set of the Year at the 2021 Chambers Bar Awards. Chambers & Partners consistently ranks Landmark as the top set for planning law, noting “an unrivalled breadth of talent, with the perfect balance of a range of heavyweight silks and a full complement of highly capable juniors.” The Legal 500 also ranks Landmark as the top tier planning set, describing Chambers as “unbeatable in their field [with] the highest concentration of top practitioners in the planning field, with broad experience across the planning piece” as well as noting the team’s “extraordinary strength in depth.” In Planning Magazine’s annual survey of top planning barristers, Landmark QCs and juniors regularly do extremely well – the 2021 Survey featured 18 ranked Landmark silks, 11 ranked Landmark juniors (including first and second place), and seven of the top planning juniors under 35 (including first place).

A team of Landmark barristers led by Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC and David Elvin QC edits the Encyclopaedia of Planning Law and Practice.

Landmark barristers appear at many of the biggest inquiries every year, and advise on development schemes at all stages. Expertise extends to all aspects of planning and development.

Landmark barristers have regularly been and are continually instructed in major infrastructure inquiries and cases of national importance for example Crossrail, High Speed 2 and Heathrow expansion.

Our barristers are experienced in the various routes to consent, whether through development consent orders under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime under the Planning Act 2008, Transport and Works Act Orders, planning permissions or hybrid Bills.

Members of Chambers appear in planning cases in the Higher Courts. Over the last year that has involved numerous appearances in the Supreme Court (e.g. R (Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)) v North Yorkshire County Council [2020] UKSC 3, R (Wright) v Resilient Energy v Severndale Ltd [2019] UKSC 53 and London Borough of Lambeth v SSHCLG [2019] UKSC 33), Court of Appeal (e.g. R (Plan B Earth) v Secretary of State for Transport [2020] EWCA Civ 214 and Renew Land Development Ltd v Welsh Ministers [2020] EWCA Civ 143) and the Planning Court. Since the introduction of the NPPF in 2012 Landmark barristers have been involved in many of the leading Higher Court cases on the interpretation of the NPPF.

Our “unrivalled breadth of experience and quality at all levels” (Planning Magazine) means that we are the first port of call for all aspects of planning law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, no matter how big or small the development.

Moreover, Landmark’s expertise in public law, property law and environmental law makes us uniquely placed to advise on the many planning cases that overlap with these areas.

Click here to download a copy of our Junior Planning Team Brochure.

Recent Cases