- Specialisms
- Energy & Utilities
- Projects
- Real Estate and Property Law (Planning)
As head of Osborne Clarke's national planning team I co-ordinate planning and environmental regulatory matters throughout the firm's three UK offices. I began my legal career in local government with posts at Westminster, South Yorkshire and Kent County Councils, being appointed in 1982 as Chief Solicitor to Bedfordshire County Council, where I was responsible for planning, highways and environmental law. I moved to Norton Rose in 1985, where I was head of the Norton Rose Planning and Environmental Team. I joined Osborne Clarke in 2009.
Over the years I have been instructed on a number of major projects, including securing the planning and environmental consents for the Millennium (O2) Dome for NMEC; co-ordinating the planning and environmental issues for the regeneration of the former Spitalfields Fruit & Vegetable Market for Hammerson and the Corporation of London; acting for Associated British Ports in relation to major development projects at the Ports of Southampton, Hull, Cardiff and Newport; leading the OC’s regulatory team on power projects such as Drax, Shoreham, Enfield, Kings Lynn and Keadby power stations; acting for CEGB in connection with the proposed Wylfa B nuclear power station; underground gas storage in Hampshire; superstore development in Bedfordshire; dealing with the planning and environmental issues arising in connection with the South Hook LNG terminal at Milford Haven, the largest LNG facility in Europe; a new cement kiln for Hanson UK; acting for commercial developers, including Derwent, Skelton, Helical Bar and acting for Multi in relation to the Wolverhampton Town centre development; a jet fuel terminal on Canvey Island; hazardous waste sites and new quarries for Castle Cement; proposed developments at Manchester, Luton, Bristol and Heathrow airports; and housing developments in Cambridgeshire, Lancashire and Buckinghamshire.
My expertise encompasses all aspects of planning, regeneration and development control, ranging from planning applications, environmental assessment, planning and highway legal agreements, listed buildings, appeals and judicial review to environmental due diligence, contaminated land, environmental permitting, waste disposal and air and water pollution with particular expertise in major infrastructure and regeneration, housing retail, marine and port developments and energy. I act as an advocate at both public inquiries and in the courts.
I am a member and former chairman of both the Law Society's Planning and Environmental Law Committee and the City of London Law Society's Planning & Environmental Committee. I am also a member of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association and a member of the environmental editorial teams for PLC Environment and Environmental Law and Management. I was general editor and principal author of the Butterworths Planning Law Encyclopaedia and am currently writing a book on environmental implications for corporate and banking transactions. I am a Liveryman and Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Solicitors, a Liveryman of the Gardeners and past president of the City of London Law Society.
Publications Brian has written: