Alex is a seasoned public lawyer with years of high-level academic experience to underpin his growing High Court practice, which focuses mostly on planning law but also takes in licensing and social housing matters with a significant public-law dimension.
As a planning lawyer Alex represents the full range of clients but boasts a particularly enviable list of developer clients, regularly receiving instructions from some of the UK’s foremost planning and property consultancies.
Clients value Alex’s analytical ability and forensic approach to the issues. He is often instructed to appear unled against far more experienced barristers including King’s Counsel. His work with senior members of Chambers has given him invaluable experience of appellate litigation at Court of Appeal and Supreme Court level.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Alex was a Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Centre at Durham University, where he specialised in public law and human rights. He has published widely in high-profile academic and practitioner journals and has lectured to expert audiences both in the UK and abroad. He is a contributor to the recent edition of Cornerstone on the Planning Court (2nd edn, Bloomsbury, 2021) and to the forthcoming edition of Supperstone, Goudie & Walker on Judicial Review (7th edn, LexisNexis, 2023). He is also a contributor to LexisPSL on human rights issues and co-author of a major public-law textbook, Text, Cases and Materials on Public Law and Human Rights (4th edn, Routledge, 2016), which remains core reading on many undergraduate law courses across England and Wales.
Alex’s academic research and PhD concerned the applicability of judicial review and human rights obligations to non-state actors. His research is particularly relevant to hybrid bodies such as housing associations who are facing public-law challenge, whether as defendants to a claim or as claimants on the receiving end of a public-law defence. He has advised on the matter both as an academic and as a barrister. He also acted as a consultant to the Law Commission on its misconduct in public office project. More recently, he was invited to contribute to the response of the Cambridge University Centre for Public Law to the Government’s proposals to reform the Human Rights Act 1998.
Alex studied at Cambridge (BA, MA) and Durham (MJur, PhD), receiving several awards for academic and mooting achievement. In addition to his tenured post at Durham University he has held visiting fellowships at Cambridge University, University College London and UNSW, Sydney.
Expertise
- Public Law and Judicial Review
Alex is a seasoned public lawyer. Keen to apply his considerable research expertise in the field to his practice, he is regularly instructed on public law and human rights matters across a range of different fields including planning, housing and licensing. He has growing experience of High Court work and is currently acting, unled, in several judicial reviews and High Court statutory appeals.
Recent experience includes:
- R (Blacker) v Chelmsford City Council [2023] EWCA Civ 25: defended Chelmsford City Council in an appeal concerning the public-law principle of consistency between public authority decisions and the interpretation of council constitutions (led by Josef Cannon).
- R (Finch) v Surrey County Council [2022] EWCA Civ 187: defended Surrey County Council in an environmental challenge to its decision to grant planning permission for the extraction of crude oil at the Horse Hill Well Site, Horley (led by Harriet Townsend, to be heard by the Supreme Court. 21.06.2023).
- R (Smith) v Castlepoint Borough Council [2020] EWCA Civ 1420: acted for the claimant in a challenge to the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for construction at a scrap metal and waste recovery yard (led by Wayne Beglan).
- R (Humber Landlords Association) v Hull City Council [2019] EWHC 332 (Admin): defended Hull City Council against a judicial review challenge to its decision to revise its policy on private sector housing enforcement (led by Wayne Beglan).
- acting for local authorities defending homelessness decisions in judicial review proceedings and public-law appeals brought under s 204 of the Housing Act 1996.
- acting for landlords in possession claims and injunction proceedings involving public-law defences including under the Human Rights Act 1998 and Equality Act 2010.
- acting for the local planning authority in proceedings concerning the interpretation of the ouster provision in s 171BB(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
- acting for the Government in civil proceedings concerning the scope of the power to remove untaxed vehicles from the highway.
- ‘Grasping the Nettle’: Court of Appeal Rules on Principle of Consistency18 Jan 2023
- In Finch the Court of Appeal declines to define significant indirect effects for EIA17 Feb 2022
- Secretary of State rejects plans for up to 1600 dwellings in Braintree, NPPF para 170 on valued landscapes is considered12 Jul 2019
- High Court upholds Council’s enforcement policy on private sector landlords12 Mar 2019
- Planning and Environment
Alex is instructed principally by commercial developers but also by local government and other clients, all of whom benefit from his considerable academic experience as a public lawyer in the context of judicial review challenges in particular. Recent experience includes:
- as sole counsel, acting in High Court judicial review and s.288 TCPA proceedings on a range of matters as well as acting at inquiries involving topical issues including Green Belt development, Extra Care and permitted development rights.
- being led by Robert Williams on behalf of the LPA in a significant environmental JR involving the construction of a new sewerage pumping station in Hailey Park, Cardiff.
- R (Blacker) v Chelmsford City Council [2023] EWCA Civ 25: defended Chelmsford City Council in an appeal concerning the principle of consistency between planning decisions (led by Josef Cannon).
- R (Finch) v Surrey County Council [2022] EWCA Civ 187: defended Surrey County Council, both at first instance and on appeal, in high-profile JR proceedings concerning whether the Environmental Impact Regulations 2017/571 require the consideration of downstream greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the refinement and use of crude oil at the Horse Hill Well Site (led by Harriet Townsend; to be heard by the Supreme Court, 21.06.2023).
- R (Smith) v Castlepoint Borough Council [2020] EWCA Civ 1420: acted for the claimant in JR proceedings concerning the extent to which local and national policy required the Council to consider intensification of the activity and contamination of neighbouring land when granting planning permission for the construction of a new boundary wall at a scrap metal and waste recovery yard (led by Wayne Beglan).
- enforcement proceedings, including appeals/inquiries, visual amenity prosecutions under s 216 TCPA 1990 and planning enforcement orders.
- advising developers and other clients on a broad range of matters including minor material and non-material amendments, CIL liability, the implementation of permissions including inconsistent permissions, and the modification of planning obligations under s 106A TCPA.
- delivering training, including on planning prosecutions, planning enforcement orders and the role of previous inconsistent decisions in decision-making.
- growing involvement in highways matters including highway classification, repair, and street works liability.
- ‘Grasping the Nettle’: Court of Appeal Rules on Principle of Consistency18 Jan 2023
- In Finch the Court of Appeal declines to define significant indirect effects for EIA17 Feb 2022
- “Grasping the Nettle”: how far into the thicket do you have to reach?08 Dec 2021
- EIA in a climate emergency30 Dec 2020
- Planning enforcement orders, time limits and self-certification16 Apr 2020
- Secretary of State rejects plans for up to 1600 dwellings in Braintree, NPPF para 170 on valued landscapes is considered12 Jul 2019
- Housing
Alex acts for councils, housing associations and private landlords in relation to housing matters with a public-law dimension, including:
- homelessness, both JR challenges and appeals under s 204 of the Housing Act 1996.
- possession and injunction proceedings involving complex public law, Equality Act and/or Human Rights Act defences.
- Licensing
Alex is regularly instructed in licensing matters. Recent experience includes:
- defending a local authority against a restitution claim relating to the setting of taxi licensing fees (led by Philip Kolvin KC).
- defending local authorities in FTT appeals involving housing licence refusals.
- acting for local authorities in Magistrates’ Court and Crown Court licensing appeals and prosecutions.
- acting as legal advisor to licensing sub-committees at public hearings.