No5 Barristers' Chambers

Planning

Odette is a Barrister in the Planning and Environment team. She is quickly developing a broad practice across all areas of planning and environmental law, representing developers, local authorities, and third parties both unled and as a junior to senior members of chambers.
Recent examples of her unled work have included a planning appeal hearing for the erection of 25 holiday lodges, a one-day enforcement inquiry, and a two-day environmental waste prosecution in the magistrates’ court.
As to led work, she has been instructed as junior counsel on a number of significant planning inquiries, including minerals development (with Richard Kimblin KC), large housing schemes (with Chris Young KC), and solar farms (with Thea Osmund Smith).
During her pupillage she gained experience of judicial and statutory reviews in the High Court and Court of Appeal, enforcement inquiries, and compulsory purchase matters. Particular highlights included supporting her supervisor Nina Pindham in the successful judicial review of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy (R (Friends of the Earth) et al. v SS BEIS [2022] EWHC 1841 (Admin)), and also in the landmark Court of Appeal case on EIA assessment and downstream greenhouse gas emissions R (Finch) v Surrey County Council [2022] EWCA Civ 187 (for which permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been granted).

Odette has additionally developed broad experience of advisory work in relation to planning matters including:
• Green Belt
• Housing Land Supply
• Biodiversity Net Gain
• Nutrient Neutrality and Habitats Regulations Assessment
• CIL and s106 Obligations
• Permitted Development
• Listed Buildings
• Planning Enforcement

Odette is an elected trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA), where she has special responsibility for coordinating regional groups, editing the e-law publication and organising Junior UKELA seminars. She is also a member of the Attorney General’s “Junior Junior” scheme. Before coming to the Bar, Odette was a policy journalist at Apolitical.

Recent notable cases include:
• 8 day inquiry re: extraction of 1.5million tonnes of sand and gravel in Ottery St Mary, Devon APP/J1155/W/22/3299799 & APP/J1155/W/22/3299802 (led by Richard Kimblin KC)
• 4 day inquiry re: 49.9 MW solar farm and battery storage in Langford, Devon APP/Y1138/W/22/3293104 (led by Thea Osmund-Smith)
• 1 day hearing re: 25 holiday lodges in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire APP/J1860/W/21/3273533 (unled)
• 4 day inquiry re: 233 dwellings in Saffron Walden, Uttlesford PP/C1570/W/22/3296426 (led by Chris Young KC)
• 1 day enforcement inquiry re: Thorncliffe, Staffordshire APP/B3438/C/20/3244823 (unled)
• 4 day inquiry re: 76 dwellings in Angmering, West Sussex APP/C3810/W/22/3295115 (led by Thea Osmund-Smith)
• 4 day inquiry re: 45 dwellings in Leigh Sinton, Malvern APP/J1860/W/21/3289643 (led by Richard Kimblin KC)

Appointments

• Elected Trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) • Attorney General’s “Junior Junior” scheme

Awards

Sir John and Sophie Laws Scholarship (Bar European Group) Queen Mother Scholarship (Middle Temple) BVS and GDL Scholarships (City University) 11KBW Prize for Public Law (City University) Major Postgraduate Scholarship (HEFCE/SOAS) Lady Wilson Prize (University College, Oxford) Academic Exhibition (University College, Oxford) Roger Short Scholarship (University College, Oxford)

French