Francis Taylor Building

Jonathan is ranked by Legal 500 as a rising star in environmental law (2024), and is consistently ranked by Planning Magazine as a leading planning junior under the age of 35.

Jonathan welcomes instructions across all of Chambers’ practice areas. His clients include local authorities, developers, utility companies, statutory undertakers, interest groups and local residents. He regularly appears in the High Court, public inquiries and hearings, both on his own and as part of a team.

Jonathan’s principal areas of experience include:

• Planning and environment
• Infrastructure
• Compulsory purchase and compensation
• Rating and valuation
• Public law, injunctions and committal proceedings
• Rights of way and highways

Notable examples of Jonathan’s recent and ongoing work include:

Planning inquiries and tribunal work:

• Counsel for Guildford Borough Council in 8-week inquiry relating to a proposed new settlement at the former Wisley Airfield in Surrey;
• Junior to Rebecca Clutten acting for Acquiring Authority in a reference to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for determination of compensation for compulsory acquisition of retail business premises (Warren James v Watford BC [2023] UKUT 153 (LC);
• Counsel for local authorities (including LB Hackney, and Bracknell Forest Council) in a number of enforcement inquiries;
• Counsel for Bracknell Forest Council in 4-day section 78 appeal inquiry following refusal of planning permission for 82 homes;
• Counsel at 9-day inquiry promoting 55 home residential development at appeal following refusal of planning permission by local planning authority;
• Appearing for the successful Westminster City Council as Rule 6(6) party in call-in inquiry into 8 Albert Embankment redevelopment scheme.

Judicial review and statutory challenges:

• Jonathan has a busy court practice. Over the last three years Jonathan has appeared in cases before the High Court and Court of Appeal on 15 occasions. Some examples include:
• Junior counsel for Secretary of State in two Court of Appeal cases arising from challenges to East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two DCOs (CO/1696/2022 and CO/1707/2022);
• Junior counsel for Secretary of State defending judicial reviews of compensation payable to poultry keepers for culling of birds due to Avian Influenza (junior to Mark Westmoreland Smith) (CO/4451/2022).
• Counsel for claimant in litigation following the successful challenge to local plan policies considering the issue of appropriate relief and steps taken to remedy unlawful policies in adopted plan ([2023] EWHC 1776 (Admin))
• Counsel for Buckinghamshire Council in successful s.288 challenge to Inspector’s decision (CO/3711/2022).
• Counsel for claimant in challenge to grant of planning permission in LB Croydon (CO/1225/2022);
• Junior to Richard Honey K.C. in judicial review of planning decision in Buckinghamshire (CO/1608/2022);
• Junior to Richard Honey K.C. in successful judicial review of planning decision affecting SEN school (issues including the scheme of delegation, noise, traffic and air quality) R (G) v Thanet District Council [2021] EWHC 2026 (Admin).
• Junior to Cain Ormondroyd acting for billing authority (City of London) successfully resisting a challenge to a completion notice in the Valuation Tribunal for England (VTE).

Recent infrastructure work:

• Jonathan has particular experience of advising water undertakers on their strategic planning, infrastructure consenting and the abstraction licencing regime;
• Jonathan is advising Thames Water and Anglian Water on their Water Resources Management Plans, and supporting environmental assessments, which include strategic resource options proposed to be brought forward as NSIPs.

Injunctions and committal proceedings:

• Sole counsel for National Highways Ltd in the High Court responding to an application by defendants to adjourn committal proceedings against them on the basis of prejudice to criminal trials (KB-2022-004333);
• Junior counsel for HS2 Ltd in successful application for injunctive relief over the entire route. Jonathan has also acted for HS2 Ltd in successful applications for injunctions in respect of protesters at Euston Square Gardens (CO/361/2021), and in subsequent successful committal for contempt of court (QB/2021/4465);
• Junior counsel for National Highways Ltd in successful injunction and committal proceedings relating to Insulate Britain direct action protestors on UK roads.

Jonathan is a member of the Attorney General’s Junior counsel scheme, a Commissioning Editor of FTB’s Environmental Law Blog, and an editor of Planning Appeal Decisions.

Jonathan undertook pupillage at FTB under the supervision of Melissa Murphy K.C., Mark Westmoreland Smith and Hugh Flanagan. Before this, Jonathan spent a year as judicial assistant to Sir Keith Lindblom L.J. (now Senior President of Tribunals), in the Court of Appeal.

Jonathan is the current Chair of the Compulsory Purchase Association Future committee.