Howard Leithead is a specialist planning and environmental law barrister. He is experienced in dealing with appeals to the Secretary of State (drafting written representations and appearing in hearings and inquiries) and in representing clients in cases in courts and tribunals from the magistrates’ court to the Court of Appeal.
He acts for and advises clients of all types, including developers, local authorities, Secretaries of State, campaign groups, local residents, and private individuals.
Howard accepts instructions both from professional clients and on a public access basis across England and Wales. He is appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel in London.
Howard regularly writes articles and speaks about planning and environmental issues. He provides expert analysis articles for Lexis®PSL, appears on No5 Planning Podcasts, takes part in webinars, and gives papers at seminars and conferences. He has also contributed to several specialist publications, including the NAPE Planning Enforcement Handbook.
He is committed to education and training and is involved in training professional witnesses for planning inquiries, coaching law students at Inner Temple and elsewhere, and judging mooting competitions.
Howard is involved in a variety of development work. Much of his work is focused on helping clients to obtain or oppose grants of planning permission, including at the planning application stage, in appeals to the Secretary of State, and in challenges in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
He further deals with a range of other matters, such as disputes over the interpretation of planning permissions and listed building consents, s.106 agreements, lawful development certificates, applicability of permitted development rights (such as in relation to domestic projects, agricultural buildings and barn conversions), use class disputes, implications of the granting of planning permissions by mistake, and issues that arise in the context of mineral permissions.
In addition, Howard further maintains a busy enforcement practice. He advises and represents both local planning authorities and those against whom enforcement action is being taken, both in appeals against enforcement notices and in court proceedings.
Howard regularly deals with on highways issues within the context of planning inquiries. In addition, he advises and represents clients on a range of technical issues, such as the obligations of highway authorities and in relation to enforcement action.
Howard represents clients in judicial reviews and statutory reviews under s.288. In addition to the wide range of clients that he represents in appeals, he represents the Secretary of State in the High Court as a member of the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel in London.
Recent cases include:
Section 289 appeals and injunctions
In the High Court, Howard typically represents clients in s.289 appeals, applications for injunctions under s.178B and contempt proceedings.
Recent cases include:
Howard represents clients in both planning inquiries and hearings. He has recently been instructed in appeals concerning proposals for residential development and proposals for the development of a hotel, a prison, agricultural land, gypsy and travellers sites, and a battery energy storage system.
Howard is familiar with all the main topic areas for which expert evidence is required in planning inquiries, such as heritage, highways, landscape, Green Belt, flood risk, housing land supply, viability, accessibility, noise, and light. He is experienced in working with teams of expert witnesses and in cross examining the witnesses of opposing parties.
Beyond development, Howard has represented clients in appeals concerning footpaths and rights of way.
Recent appeals include:
Howard is involved in a wide range of enforcement work. He is skilled at providing clear advice and advocacy and is focused particularly on helping clients to find practical solutions in an area where the law can be particularly complex.
Appeals
Howard acts for both developers and local planning authorities in appeals to the Secretary of State against enforcement notices under s.174 and appeals against decisions to refuse lawful development certificates under s.195.
Recent appeals include:
Cases
Howard represents clients in courts from the magistrates work to the High Court and the Court of Appeal. His work divides broadly into (a) civil cases, such as s.289 appeals, applications for injunctions under s.178B, contempt proceedings, and appeals against s.215 notices, and (b) criminal prosecutions in the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court.
Recent cases include:
Much of the development work Howard is involved in concerns residential development. In appeals he advises and acts for both developers and local planning authorities as well as interest groups and other objectors.
This focus has enabled Howard to obtain considerable experience of the issues which arise and his willingness to act for different parties helps him to understand issues and to pre-empt arguments made by other parties.
Howard’s environmental planning practice encompasses environmental work that is both intrinsic to the planning process and separate to it.
Within the planning context, Howard regularly deals with issues such as environmental impact assessment and biodiversity net gain. He further deals with planning applications for environmental matters such as waste disposal operations and the minerals projects.
More broadly, he has been involved on other environmental matters, including statutory nuisance, environmental permits, enforcement action, and criminal prosecutions.
Since 2021, he has organised the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA) Moot.
Recent cases:
Howard has advised developers and local planning authorities in relation to biodiversity net gain in the context of planning appeals. With the statutory requirement to demonstrate a biodiversity net gain of 10%, this is an issue which routinely arises and Howard is well-experienced in dealing with it.
Thank you to all who attended the Local Planning Authority Seminar Yesterday. We hope it was both informative and enjoyable for you all.
In this Planning Podcast, Richard Kimblin KC is joined by Hugh Richards and Howard Leithead to discuss Decision Making – Key themes from recent law…
Thank you to all who attended the Local Planning Authority Seminar Yesterday. We hope it was both informative and enjoyable for you all.
In this Planning Podcast, Richard Kimblin KC is joined by Hugh Richards and Howard Leithead to discuss Decision Making – Key themes from recent law…
