Cornerstone Barristers

Leading senior junior in the area of planning law; advises and appears for a range of local authority and private clients; promoted 12 local plans; acts for volume house builders and English Heritage; appears at planning inquiries and High Court statutory challenges; acts for a range of local planning authorities throughout the South East and the Midlands; instructed for the council in McAlpine Homes v Swale Borough Council (CO/3164/2000 to be reported), the recent leading authority after Alconbury on the application of the Human Rights Act to the local plan process; recent public inquiry appearances include Heron Homes (appeared for Heron in a successful objection to the South Gloucestershire Waste Local Plan); Barrett, Persimmon, Westbury and Bovis (appeared for a consortium of major housebuilders in objecting to the Bromsgrove Local Plan Inquiry); English Heritage (appeared for English Heritage at the Trentham Gardens and Orchardleigh Inquiries into the restoration of listed mansions by enabling development) instructed by Norton Rose; appeared for English Heritage in the High Court challenge concerning the Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa; Bovis Homes (appeared to present objections at the Colchester Local Plan Inquiry); Prowting Homes (advising Prowting Homes and Bristol College on the redevelopment of the Ashley Down Site in Bristol, the second largest group of listed buildings in the South East); Bellway Homes (appeared instructed by RPS at the Aylsbury Vale Local Plan Inquiry); Swale Borough Council (have appeared at two major call-in inquiries into employment sites in Faversham, Kent); Welwyn and Hatfield (advising on the planning strategy for the Local Plan Review); appeared for Brentwood Borough Council and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead at Crossrail Inquiry in the House of Commons; also leading lawyer in the field of sports law retained by the UK governing body of motor sport, the Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association Ltd (MSA); involved in drafting the regulatory rules of motor sport, advising on the settlement of disputes, chairing disciplinary hearings and advising on the broad operation of UK motor sport under national and international law; national representative for motor sport on the UK Sport Dispute Resolution Panel (SDRP), chaired selection panel appeals concerning ‘Team England’ at 2002 Commonwealth Games, settled disputes in athletics, football, swimming, skiing, judo and many other sports; produced report into British Grand Prix at Silverstone 2001, former member of the FIA International Court of Appeal, now representative for GB on the FIA World Motor Sports Council in Paris.

Called 1977; member Middle Temple and Lincoln’s Inn; immigration judge with Immigration Appellate authority 1995-2004.

PEBA (Local Plans Sub-committee); Bar Sports Law Group; Royal Institute of International Affairs; fellow Royal Geographical Association; member Institute of Directors.

London School of Economics and Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (1975 LLB; 1977 LMM); Winston Churchill Pupillage prize holder.

Motor sport (chairman Motor Sports Council; member of board Royal Automobile Club Motor Sports Association), fishing, scuba diving, boating.