Shoosmiths LLP

Planning, highways, compulsory purchase.

Kathryn is a partner and joint-head of Shoosmiths’ Planning and Environment team, driving the team’s growth forward across the UK.

An experienced planning lawyer, she acts on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious planning matters, including highways matters and compulsory purchase work, drafting and negotiating complex Section 106 agreements, judicial review, footpath/highway closures, infrastructure agreements and village green issues.

Kathryn has advised on projects spanning the length and breadth of the UK, for clients including Peel Holdings, United Utilities, Tesco and the Co-operative Group. Sample experience includes advising:

Peel Holdings on a number of large housebuilding sites in the north west and Salford, including advising on the strategy for renewal of unimplemented parts of existing consents, securing new consents and renegotiating Section106 requirements, and project managing planning appeals through the inquiry process; Vastint (IKEA's Pension Fund) in relation to the creation of a residential -led new “urban village” in Stratford, London; Story Homes in relation to over 20 Section 106 agreements; Canterbury City Council in relation to the regeneration of a city centre site for a mixed use development; and the London Borough of Hackney in relation to the compulsory purchase and redevelopment of three large estate renewal schemes.

Kathryn is again identified as a Leading Individual for Planning legal work in the 2019 editions of Legal 500 and Chambers UK and her glowing client feedback states that clients appreciate that “she is very organised, energetic and responsive to client needs”, as well as “a pleasure to work with”.

Kathryn joined Shoosmiths in 2013, having previously worked at Eversheds, DWF and Semple Fraser. She also spent six years working in-house for Preston and then St Helens Councils, a mix of public and private experience that clients find invaluable, as it provides empathy, insights and scope for innovation for projects at the public/private interface.

Legal Associate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Camforth High School; Lancaster Girls Grammar School; The Nottingham Trent University (1993 LLB Hons 2:1); Chester College of Law (1994 LPC Commendation); Royal Town Planning Institute/The Law Society, Joint Planning Exam (1999).