Chris has been voted the No.1 King’s Counsel in Planning in England and Wales for the last four years in a row (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). This is in an anonymised and confidential survey conducted with over 200 of the country’s leading planning solicitors and planning consultants (Planning magazine annual survey).
Chris has also been voted the leading King’s Counsel for residential development for the last five years in a row (2000, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
Prior to that he was voted the leading junior planning barrister in the country.
Chris advises most of the major house builders, land promoters and care operators in the country. He also acts for major supermarkets and other retailers, logistics firms, universities and schools, NHS Property Services, charities, SME builders, local authorities, county councils, farmers, self-builders and individuals.
He has and continues to advise on over 30 new towns and other settlements, dozens of large scale urban extensions, urban regeneration schemes, tall buildings in major cities, highway proposals and continuing care villages.
He acts for clients and consortia at Local Plan Examinations including Consortia in the West of England and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole EIPs and for Peel Land the main land promoter in the Manchester Spatial Plan (Places for Everyone – 6,000 homes removed from the Green Belt and major new employment sites).
He spends a lot of time working on sites and draft allocations in the Green Belt, Grey Belt, National Landscapes, National Parks, sites impacted by European protected sites and species, Ancient woodlands and other sensitive locations.
He has particular expertise in:
He advised and acted for Richborough Estates in their successful and seminal appeal on the interpretation of the NPPF in the Supreme Court. He has advised and acted successfully in numerous High Court challenges against the Secretary of State in cases involving Neighbourhood Development Plans and defended in the High Court numerous planning permissions secured at the local level and won on appeal.
He has acted for Birmingham City Council in respect of numerous regeneration schemes in the city, including advising and defending decisions in the High Court.
He acted for Acquiring Authorities successfully seeking Compulsory Purchase Orders for housing regeneration, school and university development in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham. He also acted successfully for NHS Property services stopping the Vicarage Fields Compulsory Purchase Order in Barking in which his client then recovered £300,000 in costs.
He acted successfully for North Warwickshire Borough Council in the dismissed appeals for major redevelopment by Harworth of a unrestored coalfield site and a 1 million sq feet of logistics facility at Junction 10 of the M42 at Tamworth.
Chris has advised on some of the largest development proposals in the UK, including 15 new settlements such as Cranbrook in Devon, Cattal near Harrogate, Mayfield in Sussex, Sibson Garden Village in Huntingdonshire, Silfield near Norfolk, South Godstone in Surrey, Beadlow in Bedfordshire, and a 19,000 home proposal south of Bedford on the Oxford to Cambridge railway line.
Chris has advised on over 30 major urban extensions, such as the 5,000-plus dwelling developments at Sherford in Plymouth, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire, Wrexham in Wales for Bloor, East of Tring in Hertfordshire, East of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, Ladygrove East in Oxfordshire, and the expansion of Knebworth Garden Village.
Presently advising on over 30 development schemes in the Green Belt, many of which are proceeding by way of speculative applications having advised on and won a series of recent appeals for sites in the Green Belt, including 500 houses at Wheatley in Oxfordshire. He is also involved in numerous tall buildings appeals, including several in London. He is advising on regeneration schemes, including advising St Modwen on the redevelopment of the Longbridge car plant and Birmingham City Council on a major proposal for Digbeth.
Acts extensively for the Retirement and Care Sector and is presently involved in over a dozen such schemes, having recently won appeals for the Extra Care operators on numerous greenfield sites in locations such as in the Green Belt (West Malling, Kent), in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Sonning Common, Oxfordshire), Conservation Areas and close to a National Park (Albourne, Sussex). He also acts for care homes operators, sheltered housing operators and bungalow builders.
Chris acts for the logistics operators such as Tritax Symmetry and roadside and motorway service operator Eurogarages. He advises numerous employment firms, as well as retailers such as Tesco Stores and Lidl, mineral operators such as Tarmac, and Universities, colleges and schools on campus development such as Oxford Brookes and the University of Reading. Also acts for various leisure operators including Forest Holidays.
Chris regularly appears at Spatial and Local Plan examinations for the development industry. This includes numerous appearances for Consortia, such as the West of England Local Plan where he acted for a consortium of 10 housebuilders and developers, leading Peels work in the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and acting for the main objector on Green Belt at the London Plan EIP. He also acted successfully for the three South Worcestershire authorities in respect of their Joint Local Plan, and for Redditch BC and Bromsgrove BC in respect of Joint Local Plan.
He regularly appears in the Higher Courts including acting successfully for Richborough Estates in the Supreme Court on the seminal case on the operations of the NPPF. Between 2017 and 2021 he appeared in the Court of Appeal five times in cases concerning residential development. He frequently acts in the High Court, successfully defending planning permissions secured by developer clients. He has also acted successfully to quash several Secretary of State decisions refusing permission for development, including three recent cases involving neighbourhood plans. He also acted for 25 housebuilders and developers in their legal challenge to the Written Ministerial Statement on Neighbourhood Plans, which led to changes in national policy.
An appeal has been allowed by Inspector Thomas Hatfield for 330 new homes, land for a primary school and earth raising on a greenfield site…
"The leading inquiry advocate for large-scale housing inquiries. He’s a legal whirlwind who knows everything about that area." "Highly experienced and technical in housing matters."
"A great all-rounder." "Utterly superb - brilliant advocate, adviser and team player." "Chris commands absolute trust from all of his developer clients."
"Specialises in residential and retail planning matters."
An appeal has been allowed by Inspector Thomas Hatfield for 330 new homes, land for a primary school and earth raising on a greenfield site…
