Daniel has an extremely busy practice, specialising in Planning and Environment, and Public Law. He appears regularly in courts, tribunals, and planning appeals across the country, and has a very broad and varied advisory practice to match. He has recently appeared before the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal (both led and unled), and regularly appears in the High Court (both led and unled). His advisory practice includes clients ranging from small-scale housebuilders to those promoting new settlements, and from local authorities across the country, to central government.
Prior to joining No5, Daniel served as the Judicial Assistant to Lewis LJ and Holroyde LJ in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), working on a number of significant appeals concerning important points of Public and Planning Law, as well as a number of first-instance judicial review challenges before the Divisional Court. Prior to that, Daniel completed pupillage at a highly-ranked criminal set in London, appearing daily in the Magistrates’ and Crown Court.
Prior to commencing pupillage, Daniel studied for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Law and Public Law, obtaining several academic prizes, and also spent time volunteering at Advocate, assisting as the first point of contact for vulnerable individuals seeking pro bono representation. Outside of the law, Daniel is a keen musician, and has spent many years singing in choirs all over the world, including as a Choral Scholar in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Daniel has a broad and varied practice across the full span of planning and environmental matters. He is regularly instructed to appear on behalf of local authorities and developers at both hearings and inquiries, and has a busy advisory practice connected with those appearances. Daniel also regularly appears in the High Court, and Crown and Magistrates’ Court on planning and environmental matters, and as a member of No5’s Public Law team, is frequently instructed as sole counsel in judicial review claims before the High Court on a broad range of subject matters. He is, as such, particularly well-placed to advise on all aspects of such claims.
Daniel is also regularly asked to provide internal and external training on all areas of planning law and policy, is the current host of No5 Chambers’ Planning Podcast, and authors monthly caselaw analyses for the Journal of Planning and Environmental Law.
Daniel has a busy practice acting for both claimants and defendants in judicial and statutory review challenges. His background in Public Law means he is ideally placed to provide comprehensive advice on such challenges, and he is regularly asked to advise on complex procedural issues (including pre-action), as well as on the merits of individual claims.
Recent instructions include:
More broadly, as a member of No5’s Public Law team, Daniel has substantial experience of all stages of High Court challenges, acting for both claimants and defendants, including drafting statements of facts and grounds, drafting both summary and detailed grounds of resistance, appearing at oral renewal hearings, and appearing at full hearings. He regularly appears in the High Court, both led and unled, and has also appeared in the Court of Appeal.
Daniel’s prior role as a Judicial Assistant at the Court of Appeal means that he also has significant experience of working on a diverse range of planning matters at appellate level, including SSLUHC v Smith [2023] EWCA Civ 514 on the role of Appeal Planning Officers; East Quayside 12 LLP v Newcastle upon Tyne City Council [2023] EWCA Civ 359 on the heavily contested redevelopment of Newcastle quayside; and a number of other appeals concerning the interpretation of the NPPF, local and regional planning
policies, and the GPDO. He also has considerable experience of applications for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal from the Planning Court.
Daniel is currently instructed on appeals concerning a range of schemes across the country, both led and unled. He has experience acting in relation to a number of large-scale residential schemes, renewable energy schemes, employment and logistics schemes, crematoria, and supported living schemes. He acts for both local authorities and developers.
Current or recent unled instructions include:
Current or recent led instructions include:
Daniel also has experience of advising both appellants and local authorities pre-appeal on prospects of success as to potential appeals, including under s.78, and in respect of s.73 applications, CLEUDs, and public rights of way. Recent instructions in that regard range from major developers promoting new settlements in the Midlands, through to local authorities on smaller-scale enforcement matters. He also has experience of advising on strategic next steps post-appeal, including on the prospects of success of challenges by way of judicial review or under s.288.
Daniel also has experience of representing appellants in appeals under the Forestry Act 1967 against Restocking Notices, including drafting and advice on prospects of success, and on subsequently drafting grounds of judicial review to challenge adverse decisions made by DEFRA on such appeals.
Daniel is frequently instructed to advise on a broad range of enforcement matters, both at the very early stages of the drafting of Notices and their appeal to the Secretary of State, and subsequently on behalf of both local authorities and defendants in prosecutions under section 179 TCPA 1990.
Daniel has successfully appeared for a number of local authorities in enforcement inquiries. Recent instructions include successfully defending an enforcement notice in respect of unauthorised student accommodation in a city centre location, and in a factually complex four-day Gypsy and Traveller inquiry concerning a number of linked pitches on the same site.
Daniel is also regularly instructed to advise on, and act in, criminal prosecutions in an enforcement context, including in relation to enforcement notices and breach of condition notices. He is also presently instructed in a prosecution regarding listed buildings. His prior experience at the Criminal Bar means he is exceptionally well placed to advise on all stages of the procedure from summons through to trial, as well as on the use of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 post-conviction.
Daniel has considerable experience of acting on behalf of local authorities and defendants in environmental regulatory matters in both the Crown and Magistrates’ Courts. He has conducted trials, sentencing hearings, and procedural hearings in a variety of types of case including housing standards, street works, and fly-tipping. His prior experience at the Criminal Bar, during which he appeared in the criminal courts on a daily basis, means that Daniel is ideally placed to advise on regulatory actions or prosecutions from start to finish.
Recent instructions include acting on behalf of a major national water company in a successful appeal to the Crown Court against one of the largest sentences ever imposed at the Magistrates’ Court (led by Richard Kimblin KC), and acting on behalf of a local authority in a successful prosecution for an unauthorised waste tip in the Green Belt, which itself led to a very large fine.
Daniel also has experience of advising on and appearing before the Magistrates’ Court in its civil capacity on environmental and regulatory matters, including in relation to waste notices under section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and ‘tidy-up notices’ under section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Daniel has experience of advising on and appearing on appeals in respect of a range of renewable energy schemes including solar farms. He was recently successful in securing permission on appeal for a 49.9MW solar scheme in Epping Forest, on a Green Belt site which was 25% BMV land (led by Thea Osmund-Smith). He was also recently successful in resisting a statutory review claim by a local authority against the grant of planning permission for a very large solar farm on Anglesey (led by Thea Osmund-Smith).
Daniel recently appeared in the High Court, instructed by HS2 Ltd, successfully defending a claim for an interim injunction brought by the Environment Agency in respect of proposed works along the Phase One route. The case involved complex technical issues relating to groundwater, and difficult questions of law concerning the interpretation of the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017, and in relation to the Arbitration Act 1996 ([2024] EWHC 1560 (TCC), led by Richard Kimblin KC).
Daniel has experience in advising on a range of matters related to minerals and waste, for a range of clients. He recently acted on behalf of a minerals developer in the North of England in a complex multi-day ROMP and CLEUD appeal (alongside Richard Kimblin KC), and is presently instructed on behalf of a quarry operator in an equally complex matter relating to a series of historic minerals permissions and ROMP applications.
Daniel is experienced in advising and drafting in respect of a range of issues arising in a highways context. He is presently instructed by a number of local authorities in relation to criminal prosecutions for various offences under the Highways Act 1980, and also has experience on advising on the existence and creation of highways, and other ancillary issues.
Daniel has experience of advising on injunction applications, appearing on behalf of various local authority clients, including before the High Court to seek continuations of interim injunctions.
Daniel has experience of advising on a number of different issues in the context of public rights of way, advising both local authority and objector clients. He is presently instructed to advise an objector on a complex case in which a public right of way is claimed through a luxury residential development in the Midlands. Daniel also has experience of advising on various issues in the context of town and village greens, including recent instructions to advise on the scope of powers available to a local authority under a scheme common dating back over a century. Daniel is also experienced in dealing with various aspects of the Forestry Act 1967, including Restocking Notices, appeals against such Notices, and High Court challenges related to such matters.
Daniel has a broad public law practice spanning a range of areas, with a particular focus in Education, Prison, and Local Government Law. He acts for both claimants and defendants (both local and central government), and is regularly instructed to advise on and appear in judicial review challenges on both sides. His experience in appearing for both claimants and defendants means he is well placed to advise on broader strategic issues, and on complex and unusual points of practice and procedure. He is a member of the Attorney General’s Junior Junior panel of counsel.
Prior to joining No5, Daniel also served as the Judicial Assistant to Lewis LJ and Holroyde LJ. In that capacity, he worked on a number of nationally significant public law cases both at first-instance in the Divisional Court and on appeal to the Court of Appeal, including the eight-day ‘Rwanda’ judicial review challenge, and the three-day appellate challenge to the legality of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
Daniel is an experienced education law specialist. He regularly acts in appeals before the First-tier Tribunal, including appeals against Sections B, F, and I of EHCPs, extended appeals involving social care and health care issues, and on ‘refuse to assess’ and ‘cease to maintain’ appeals. He acts both for appellants and a wide range of local authorities. He is very familiar with the broad span of issues that arise before the Tribunal on such appeals, and has appeared in a number of appeals raising complex points of law necessitating advice on appeal to the Upper Tribunal.
Daniel is also regularly instructed by both Claimants and Defendants in judicial review proceedings in an education context. He is frequently instructed by local authorities to advise on and defend judicial review proceedings from pre-action stage through to substantive hearings. He has experience of dealing with applications for interim relief, and regularly accepts instructions on an urgent basis. Notably, Daniel was recently successful in obtaining an interim mandatory order against a local authority who had failed to conduct an adequate EHCP review process, resulting in the local authority ultimately offering the young person a long-term placement at a
specialist college (https://www.no5.com/2025/05/daniel-henderson-successfully-obtains-high-court-interim-mandatory-order-against-local-authority-failing-to-conduct-effective-review-of-young-persons-ehcp/).
Daniel has a very busy prison law practice, across the full spectrum of the area from advising on clients facing day-to-day issues within the prison establishment, through to appearing at Parole Board hearings, and frequently appearing in the High Court and Court of Appeal in judicial review claims.
Before the Parole Board, Daniel has successfully acted in a large number of oral hearings, seeking release, transfer, or live risk assessments, including a number of complex hearings focusing on detailed psychological evidence. He was recently successful in securing release for an IPP prisoner against professional advice, following a particularly complex two-day in-person oral hearing with eight witnesses. Daniel also has experience of advising on and drafting applications for reconsideration and applications to set aside, and was recently successful in an application to set aside a decision refusing release.
In the judicial review field, Daniel is regularly instructed as sole counsel on behalf of claimant prisoners. He is currently instructed in challenges concerning unlawful recalls, failures to transfer to open conditions, failures to hold oral hearings, downgrade decisions, and a series of other procedural fairness challenges against prison governors and the Parole Board. He has recently appeared in the Court of Appeal on a procedural challenge concerning the Cat A review process (R (Clarke) v SSJ [2024] EWCA Civ 861), and in the High Court on an unlawful recall challenge (R (K) v SSJ [2024] EWHC 855 (Admin)). He was also recently successful in securing the release of an unlawfully recalled prisoner by the High Court (R (Quilligan) v SSJ [2025] EWHC 2592 (Admin), led by Philip Rule KC), having first obtained an extension of time of over 2 years to challenge the original decision (unled).
More widely, Daniel has experience in advising on a range of issues which arise day-to-day within the prison estate, including security/escape classification reviews, cross-border issues including deportation and repatriation, and sentence calculation.
In a police law context, Daniel has experience of acting for both claimants and Police Forces in a wide range of contexts, including civil actions against the Police and prosecuting and defending applications for civil behavioural orders in Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. He has experience of civil claims against the Police, including appearing on appeal to the High Court in such claims. He has drafted judicial review grounds against a decision to issue a caution in breach of PACE Codes. Daniel also has advisory experience in this context, including acting as independent counsel to Police Forces on disclosure and legal professional privilege in the context of ongoing high-profile criminal investigations.
Daniel is developing an increasingly busy practice in public inquiries. He is currently instructed by the Home Office to appear in the Undercover Policing Inquiry led by Sir John Mitting, having just finished a period in which he was instructed as a Junior Junior within the inquiry team on Phases 5 and 6 of the Post Office Horizon Inquiry, conducted by Sir Wyn Williams. Daniel is keen to develop his expertise in this area yet further.
Daniel has experience of appearing at inquests, including representing witnesses who do not appear as Interested Parties. He is familiar with various elements of the coronial jurisdiction, including applications for fresh inquests under section 13 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2007, having worked closely on the leading Court of Appeal case on the subject (Dove v HM Assistant Coroner for Teesside [2023] EWCA Civ 289). He is also currently instructed in a judicial review challenge to the conclusions of a Senior Coroner, raising complex issues under Article 2 ECHR.
Daniel has experience of acting for both state parties and individuals before the Privy Council. His experience ranges across the process, from drafting applications for permission to appeal, through to drafting written cases and appearing before the Judicial Committee.
Recent instructions include acting pro bono for an appellant from The Bahamas on appeal against his conviction for murder, successfully persuading the Privy Council that the judge’s summing up was defective in a number of crucial respects, including in relation to the law on joint enterprise. The judgment also contains important recommendations from the Board on the utility of providing juries with written directions of law (Bastian v The King [2024] UKPC 14, led by Philip Rule KC).
As we finalise the programme for our Annual Seminar, we are delighted to announce two guest speakers: Joanna Averley, the Government’s Chief Planner and Head…
Following the much-anticipated hand-down by the Supreme Court of judgment in CG Fry v SSHCLG [2025] UKSC 35, Daniel Henderson is joined by James Corbet…
As we finalise the programme for our Annual Seminar, we are delighted to announce two guest speakers: Joanna Averley, the Government’s Chief Planner and Head…
Following the much-anticipated hand-down by the Supreme Court of judgment in CG Fry v SSHCLG [2025] UKSC 35, Daniel Henderson is joined by James Corbet…
