Charles Banner KC
Charlie Banner KC was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2004 and to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2010. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2019 (at the age of 38, the youngest of the 2019 silks). Since 2024 he has been a Working Peer in the House of Lords, in which capacity he sits as a legislator in the upper house of the UK Parliament. He also sits judicially on a part-time basis as a Justice of the Astana International Finance Centre Court in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
He has a heavyweight practice principally focused on (i) planning & environmental law, (ii) public law, government contracts, public procurement and subsidy control and (iii) commercial disputes, especially in the context of development, infrastructure, construction, energy & real estate. He also has considerable experience of human rights and EU law in these contexts.
He is recommended as a leading silk in a total of 8 practice areas by Chambers & Partners (Band 1 for planning) and Legal 500. He is also ranked in the Top 2 planning silks in Great Britain in the 2024 edition of Planning Magazine’s annual Planning Legal Survey. In April 2024, he was featured as The Times’s Lawyer of the Week. He has been the recipient of multiple legal industry awards.
His advocacy experience includes over 200 reported cases, including 19 appeals in the UK Supreme Court (making him one of the top 10 currently practising barristers by number of appearances in the Supreme Court since its opening in 2009). He has appeared in 13 cases before the EU Courts (Court of Justice and General Court), 9 cases before the UNECE Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, 4 cases before the European Court of Human Rights as well as UK Parliamentary Select Committee hearings. He has also appeared in over 250 planning and environmental inquiries/examinations.
From 2015 until taking silk in 2019, he was a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown, in which capacity he represented the UK Government in some of its most challenging and high profile cases in the domestic courts and internationally.
He also acts as a dispute resolver. In addition to his part-time judicial work, he accepts appointments as an Arbitrator (FCIArb & FHKIArb), Mediator (ADR Group Accredited) and Expert.
In February 2024, he was appointed by the Prime Minister to undertake a review into planning and delivery of national infrastructure projects. The Banner Review’s report was published in October 2024, alongside a Government Call for Evidence paper including a Ministerial Foreword praising the report: see Lord Banner KC review proposes roadmap to speed up delivery of national infrastructure - GOV.UK.[CB1]
He is the creator and co-presenter of the high profile cross-chambers planning themed weekly discussion show, ‘Have We Got Planning News For You’, which was nominated for ‘Best Use of Social Media’ at the Legal Cheek Awards 2021.
His practice has an international dimension. He has rights of audience in the Dubai International Finance Centre Court (Part II Registered since 2015), and has also undertaken work in or originating from Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Trinidad.
His current and recent casework includes:
Two of the leading Supreme Court planning cases of the last decade: Hillside Parks (on the relationship between multiple planning permissions on the same site) and CG Fry (on nutrient neutrality & the status of the Habitats Directive in UK law post-Brexit).
Mead in the Court of Appeal (on the relationship between the National Planning Policy Framework and the Planning Practice Guidance).
R (SaferWaterS & CPRE) v. DEFRA, an ongoing challenge to the DEFRA Secretary of State’s decision to approve various Water Resources Management Plans that enshrine the principle of a new 150Mm3 reservoir in Abingdon without first holding a hearing or inquiry.
Securing 391 dwellings on appeal in the St Albans Green Belt at Chiswell Green, and defending a subsequent High Court challenge, as well as 92 dwellings on appeal in the Three Rivers Green Belt at Sarratt (both on the basis of Very Special Circumstances).
Promoting several tall buildings in London, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Exeter and Basildon (6 inquiries & 4 judicial reviews).
Several dozen planning inquiry appeals concerning 5 year housing land supply (for schemes ranging up to 2800 dwellings).
Acting for the promoters of a new settlement at Worcestershire Parkway.
The successful resolution of high profile planning enforcement issues relating to the Fairmont Windsor Great Park 5* hotel.
The redevelopment of the former US Embassy in Mayfair.
An Ismaili Muslim funeral pavilion in Farnham designed by the Stirling Prize winning architect Niall McLaughlin MBE RA.
‘Paragraph 84 outstanding home’ proposals by Francis Terry in Little Tew, Oxfordshire and AR Design Studio in Bramley, Surrey.
‘Recharge One’ (an electric vehicle charging station together with overnight eco-lodge accommodation) in the South Downs National Park.
A judicial review challenge to the Development Consent Order for an Energy from Waste facility in Wisbech.
Acting for community groups opposed to the National Grid’s proposals for 160km of new pylons in East Anglia.
Litigation in Northern Ireland concerning the Casement Park stadium redevelopment, the Arc21 Energy From Waste project, the North-South Interconnector and the Islandmagee underground gas storage project.
Litigation in the Chancery Division over a development agreement relating to the Liverpool Waters scheme.
An arbitration concerning a promotion agreement for a strategic housing development.
A £50m public procurement dispute in Northern Ireland concerning the award of a contract for the management and disposal of Belfast’s municipal waste.
Advising the UK Government on constitutional issues relating to proposed legislation before Parliament.
Advising on constitutional issues in Trinidad and Tobago.
A high value arbitration concerning a hotel development in the Bahamas.
Several judgments as Justice of the Astana IFC Court in Kazakhstan.
Acting as arbitrator in relation to commercial disputes in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Alongside his private practice at the Bar, Charles has held the following non-executive board positions:
Advisory Committee Chair, SAV Group, 2022-present.
Chair of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the statutory UK nature conservation advisory body, 2023-2024 (previously Deputy Chair 2021-23 and Board Member 2017-2021). Appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment.
Independent Member of the Global Standards and Regulation Board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (the global professional self-regulatory body for over 110,000 chartered surveyors and 10,000 firms worldwide), 2020-2023. Previously an Independent Member of RICS’ UK and Ireland Regulatory Sub-Board, 2018-2020.
UK Member, European Union Fundamental Rights Agency Management Board, 2017-2020. Appointed by the UK Secretary of State for Justice.
He is an elected Committee Member of the Planning and Environment Bar Association (since 2020). He has also been a Council Member and Trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association (2016-2020) and a College Lecturer in Law at the University of Oxford (2010-2015, holding weekend classes in EU law and administrative law at Lincoln, Oriel and Regent’s Park Colleges). In 2005-06 he spent a year on secondment as Judicial Assistant to the Appellate Committee to the House of Lords (the predecessor to the UK Supreme Court) and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.