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CRAIG HOWELL WILLIAMS QC MEDIATION PROFILE

Craig Howell Williams is a CEDR Accredited Mediator and a member of the RICS Mediation Panel. He is also a practising barrister and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2009. His practice as a barrister is widely based with extensive experience and expertise in planning and environment law, representing developers/operators, local authorities and third parties (including local residents). He is regularly involved in large planning/infrastructure schemes, such as proposals for urban extensions, new settlements, airport extensions, new roads, and also in employment, leisure, retail and other commercial development projects. His experience is extensive and shows versatility across many different legislative regimes, for example heritage and listed buildings, compulsory purchase and compensation, wildlife and countryside, advertisements and aggregates levy. In the development planning context he is instructed at all stages of the process and frequently involved in issues arising in: public consultation; environmental information assessment; proposal design; conditions and legal agreements (eg under s106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990); pre-inquiry discussions and agreed statements; and inquiry evidence.

His experience in mediation is covers a range of subject matter. He acted as Mediator in the case of Chui v Waverley Commercial Ltd & Amptill Town Council (in the Lands Tribunal 2009) (a claim under S237 of the TCPA 1990 consequent upon a town centre redevelopment scheme) and more recently in cases relating to compensation (a claim concerning land/rights acquired as part of the Olympics 2012 development project) and landlord and tenant/licence/negligence/nuisance issues. He has also acted as Assistant Mediator in cases varying in subject matter including employment, contract, debts/loans and professional negligence issues.

Specific experience relevant to mediation in the planning and environment field gained as Junior Counsel and Queen's Counsel:

  • Residential and employment development: eg for Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Multiplex (numerous proposals).
  • Retail and leisure: eg for Tesco (numerous retail proposals) and for Center Parcs (a holiday village in the Green Belt).
  • Large infrastructure projects: eg for Alconbury Developments Ltd (promoting a large logistics proposal in Cambridgeshire) and for Kent County Council (opposing a large logistics proposal in Kent).
  • New settlements and urban extensions: eg for Multiplex (a new town in Cambridgeshire) and for Taylor Wimpey (an urban extension in Hampshire).
  • Landmark buildings and the historic environment: eg for residents (opposing a Piers Gough redevelopment design in Chelsea); for HM Coastguard (promoting a new radar tower near to a listed lighthouse on the Kent coast); for a neighbour objecting to a Robert Adam PPS7 exceptions design; and for a an applicant promoting a change of use of a listed building within grounds listed grade 2* in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Interest, near to grade 2* structures, all situated in a conservation area).
  • EIA developments: eg large scale development mixed use proposals (numerous proposals).
  • Biodiversity: eg for developers and others seeking to promote development or carry out operations affecting Special Protection Areas and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
  • Mines and quarrying: eg for MMC Mineral Processing Ltd (open cast mining in the Derbyshire National Park).
  • Policy formulation: eg for Surrey Heath Borough Council (promoting a Local Plan) and for landowners/developers (making responses to consultation on Local Development Framework documents).
  • Aviation: eg for local authorities (the Terminal 5 project) and for Legal and General Plc (objecting to the Stansted Runway extension proposal).

Qualifications, Appointments and Professional Affiliations:

  • BA (Hons)
  • Diploma in Law
  • Band Award from Gray's Inn
  • Called to the Bar - 1983 (Grays's Inn)
  • Appointment to Queen's Counsel - 2009
  • Attorney General's Supplementary Panel of Junior Counsel (1993-1999)
  • Member of the Planning and Environment Bar Association
  • Secretary of the Planning and Environment Bar Association (1994-1996)
  • Member of the Parliamentary Bar Mess
  • Chairman of the London Luton Airport Consultative Committee (S35 of the Civil Aviation Act CAA 1982) (1999-2002)
  • Member of the RICS Publishing Steering Committee (2005-2006)
  • CEDR Accredited Mediator (2005)
  • Trustee of Planning Aid for London (Registered Charity) (2007)
  • Member of the Civil Mediation Council (2009)
  • Member of the RICS Planning and Environment Mediation Panel (2009)
  • Member of Steering Group assisting Leonora Rozee OBE in her report on Mediation in Planning (2010) and on the Delivery Programme Board (2011)
  • Member of the RICS General Mediation Panel (2011)