Graeme Keen KC

Call: 1995

Silk: 2018

Graeme is a specialist in planning, environmental, compulsory purchase and public law. He has extensive experience as an advocate at Public Inquiries, Hearings and Examinations.

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Practice summary

Planning

Environment

Cross-practice

Practice Summary

Graeme's clients include developers, landowners, local planning authorities and he is instructed by solicitors and planning consultants. His practice covers advocacy and advisory work and he frequently appears at Public Inquiries, Hearings and Examinations.

Graeme is currently instructed on a range of matters including: the promotion at appeal of several housing developments in England, including in the Green Belt and National Landscapes (AoNB), the promotion of a c.1,300 home development on MoD land in Kent, several logistics and industrial developments and two Local Plan Examinations.

Graeme is listed in Planning Magazine’s Top Rated Planning Silks 2023, Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.

Planning

Graeme is a highly experienced Public Inquiry advocate who acts for developers, local government and other interested parties. His advisory and appeal work includes: housing; logistics; retail; heritage; highways; schools; major infrastructure projects; compulsory purchase; and enforcement. Much of his Inquiry work has involved appeals recovered by the Secretary of State. Graeme also acts both for and against local planning authorities at Local Plan Examinations and appears at Development Consent Order hearings. His court experience ranges from High Court work (including judicial review and statutory appeals) to the Magistrates Court (including defending prosecutions for breach of enforcement notices).

Graeme provides strategic advice on the preparation of development schemes and technical advice on the expert evidence required to support applications and appeals. He regularly works with large teams on projects, including expert witnesses in a wide range of disciplines.

Graeme is listed in Planning Magazine’s Top Rated Planning Silks 2023, Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.

On-going matters include:

The promotion (including at appeal) of several residential developments in, for example, Surrey, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, London, (and includes sites in the Green Belt and National Landscapes (AoNB)), the promotion of logistics and industrial developments in Hampshire and Surrey, the promotion of land for allocation - for large scale residential and commercial development - in several emerging Local Plans. Advising on the promotion of two emerging Local Plans.

Compulsory Purchase and Compensation

Graeme has considerable compulsory purchase experience, in particular at Inquiry, where he has promoted CPOs for a wide variety of developments including: housing; an academy school; highways schemes; and regeneration projects (including: Liverpool, Preston, Slough and Blackburn). Graeme has also acted for objectors to CPOs, for example in relation to protecting commercial interests and heritage assets, including successfully opposing Manchester’s CPO of the former London Road Fire Station.

Commercial/Retail

Examples of Graeme's commercial/retail work include the following cases: Newlink Business Park; Project Newton; Earl Road Handforth Dean; Barracks Mill.

Development Consent Orders

Examples of Graeme's development consent orders work include the following cases: Sizewell C and East Anglia One North Off Shore Wind Farm.

Development Contribution: Section 106 and CIL

Examples of Graeme's Section 106 and CIL work include the following cases: Lemans Barn Farm, Broke Hill.

Development Plans and other planning policy

Examples of Graeme's development plans work:

  • Local Plans promoted include: County Durham, Nottinghamshire Minerals, New Forest and Salisbury. 
  • Promoting allocation of land etc. include: Crawley, Maidstone, Cranbrook and Wycombe.

Green Belt

Examples of Graeme's Green Belt work include the following cases: Great Moreton Hall and Treetops Guildford.

Heritage

Examples of Graeme's heritage work include the following cases: Great Moreton HallNational Express Depot Stansted, Westleaze and the Hoover Building.

Highways, Footpaths and Rights of Way

Examples of Graeme's highways work include the following cases: Newlink Business ParkNational Express Depot Stansted and Moor Street.

Minerals and Waste

Examples of Graeme's minerals and waste work include the following case: Nottinghamshire Minerals Plan.

Planning Appeals, Inquiries and Hearings

Examples of Graeme's planning appeals, inquiries and hearings may be found on his Planning page.

Residential

Graeme has been involved in multiple appeals, please see the list of cases and inquiries further down the page.

Environment

Graeme has been instructed on a number of high-profile Public Inquiries involving environmental matters (including: Dibden Bay, USAF Upper Heyford, Culworth Solar Farm and Broadbridge Farm) and Examinations in Public of Local and Minerals Plans (including the Durham County Plan and the Nottinghamshire Minerals Plan), involving the assessment and scrutiny of Sustainability Appraisals etc. He regularly advises on Environmental Impact Assessments and the content of Environmental Statements. Graeme also has expertise in defending environmental prosecutions in relation to matters such as waste disposal and pollution.

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

Highways and Rights of Access

Specialisms

Compulsory Purchase and Compensation

Commercial/Retail

Development Consent Orders

Development Contribution: Section 106 and CIL

Development Plans and other planning policy

Green Belt

Heritage

Highways, Footpaths and Rights of Way

Infrastructure

Minerals and Waste

Planning Appeals, Inquiries and Hearings

Planning Crime

Planning Enforcement and Injunctions

Planning Judicial and Statutory Reviews

Residential

Specialisms

Ecology and Biodiversity

Environmental Assessment (Environmental Outcomes)

Protection of the Countryside

Specialisms

Energy

Highways and Rights of Access

"
Very commercially astute and a real problem solver."

Chambers and Partners

Chambers Top Ranked UK Bar 2024 Uk leading silk 2024

Qualifications and achievements

Qualifications

Graeme is a graduate of King’s College London where he read Law. After graduation he attended the Inns of Court School of Law, Bar Vocational Course, and worked as a part-time lecturer in Constitutional Law at King’s College London.

Graeme regularly gives papers at Landmark seminars and has conducted seminars on Planning Law at University College London, on the M.Phil. Town and Country Planning Course, lectured for the Local Government Group, Central Law Training, the RTPI, PINS training week and various other organisations. He also provides training for council members and officers.

Memberships

  • Administrative Law Bar Association
  • Planning and Environmental Bar Association

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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