Planning

Transport Orders and Parliamentary Bills

Proposals for transport orders require careful marshalling of evidence and, if an inquiry or hearing is convened, its efficient delivery and testing where appropriate.

Overview

Landmark’s barristers engage with a range of such orders and can provide early and continuing advice as well as appearing at inquiries or hearings. Transport orders frequently involve interactions with other matters such as public and private rights of way, or accommodation works as well as a range of other disciplines depending on the nature of the scheme.

Transport Orders

Our involvement with Transport and Works Act Orders includes a range of experience including schemes for railway line extensions and level crossings, schemes for trams and for buses, and for bridges and tunnels. Barristers have been involved with DCO proposals to promote infrastructure or which affect or involve provision for associated transport infrastructure, and our barristers can provide advice and appear at DCO hearings. Landmark’s barristers also provide advice in relation to proposals for new road schemes or improvements promoted under the Highways Act 1980 and appear at inquiries into objections. The schemes involved can range from major motorway or trunk road schemes, to bypasses or relief roads, as well as to more localised projects such as junction improvement schemes. Barristers also advise in relation to Traffic Regulation Orders which often are designed in support of reallocating road space between different highway users or their direction of travel, or are promoted in support of limiting the categories of traffic permitted to use a new highway, and they appear at inquiries into objections.

Parliamentary Bills

Landmark’s barristers regularly appear before Select Committees on hybrid and private Bills. Barristers acted for the Secretary of State for Transport in promoting the Crossrail and High Speed 2 Phase 1 Bills and are instructed on High Speed 2 Phase 2a.

Barristers have also advised and appeared on behalf of petitioners ranging from local authorities to major landowners, manufacturing and development organisations, NGOs, residential and commercial landowners, and national and local community representative groups.

Landmark’s expertise and experience has not been limited to hybrid bills promoting major works and extends to promotion of private bills on a diverse range of issues from London local authority bills, to navigation of inland waterways, regulation of dealers in second hand goods, and transferring commons to new charitable trusts. Landmark barristers have also advised and appeared for petitioners against private bills. On the rare occasions when orders, including DCOs, authorising compulsory acquisition are subject to special parliamentary procedure, Landmark barristers have appeared.