Practice Areas

Environmental

Ned has considerable expertise and experience in environmental law, including conservation law, nuisance, statutory nuisance, water law, waste law and contaminated land.  He has acted for the Marine Management Organisation and Natural England and has a thorough understanding of both coastal and marine law, as well as EU habitats law.  Recent advice he has given includes advice to INEOS ChlorVinyls on their Runcorn incineration facility and to the MMO on fisheries byelaws. Ned is instructed to act for Friends of the Earth in the Central Craigavon case on the scope of Strategic Environmental Assessment that will be heard by the Supreme Court in May 2013.  Other cases of note include:

• Acting for Natural England in the resumed inquiry over Chiltern Railway’s plans to upgrade the Marylebone-Oxford line, where the main issue was the impact on protected bats in the Wolvercote Tunnel
• Acting for BAE Systems in its appeal against Natural England's refusal to licence bird control measures in a European protected conservation area
• Representing the Wyatt brothers in their appeal against committal for contempt for breaching planning enforcement notices in the Court of Appeal
• Acting for the successful claimant in R (U & Partners (East Anglia) Ltd) v Broads Authority [2011] EWHC 1824 (Admin), a challenge to the Environment Agency's flood control works in Norfolk, which confirmed that the requirement of "promptitude" does not apply to judicial reviews under the EIA Directive

In respect of criminal work, Ned has acted both for prosecutors and defendants and is a member of FTB's Environmental Crime Group. Ned also has extensive knowledge of the new civil sanctions regime for environmental offences, he contributed to the leading text book and has given presentations on the subject to regulated persons and regulatory bodies – most recently on enforcement undertakings.  He is well-placed to act and/or advise and act in this new area of law.

Ned regularly talks and writes on environmental law and has an LLM (environmental laws) from UCL, where he is a visiting researcher. He is an active member of UKELA.

Planning

Ned is rated as one of the top 5 juniors under the age of 35 by Planning Magazine 2012.  He has a solid and practical knowledge of planning law.  Ned has experience of both high profile development proposals and technical enforcement work; he has acted for applicants, local authorities and third party objectors in many different contexts.  Ned also has experience of major infrastructure cases under the Planning Act 2008 and the preceding legislation; he acted for Natural England in the DCO hearing into the proposed Marine Energy Park on the Humber Estuary.  Other cases of note include:

• Resisting a contested appeal against Kings Lynn and West Norfolk BC’s refusal to issue a certificate of lawful use (and obtaining full costs) (reported at JPL 2012 (7) 858-876)
• Appearing with Keith Lindblom QC (as he then was) for the Friends of St Katharine Docks in their successful third party objection to major redevelopment proposals
• Making representations to the Examination in Public of the latest version of the London Plan, England's only surviving Regional Strategy
• Successfully acting for the appellant in a planning enforcement appeal regarding houseboats on the Driffield Navigation, Yorkshire (Planning Magazine, 22 October 2010, page 35)

Ned is acting and has acted in a number of planning judicial reviews and potential challenges, including R (U & Partners (East Anglia) Ltd) v Broads Authority [2011] EWHC 1824 (Admin) and R (Evans) v Basingstoke and Deane BC on which a decision is awaited.

Village greens, commons and rights of way

Ned has appeared at village green inquiries for landowners and local inhabitants.  He has an excellent knowledge of the practice and procedures of village green law and has benefited greatly from working with village green experts at FTB and from his time as pupil to Philip Petchey.  Ned acted for local inhabitants in two important Court of Appeal cases on the deregistration of town and village greens under section 14 of the Commons Registration Act 1965: Betterment Properties (Weymouth) Ltd v Dorset CC [2012] EWCA Civ 250 and Paddico (267) Ltd v Kirklees MC [2012] EWCA Civ 262.  Permission has been granted for both of these cases to be heard in the Supreme Court.

Ned also regularly advises on commons and rights of way issues, and has appeared at inquiries under the Commons Act 2006, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Highways Act 1980.  He has acted for footpath users, the British Horse Society and landowners in this regard.

Other cases of note include:

• Successfully resisting at a 2013 inquiry the confirmation of a definitive map modification order to upgrade a footpath across the Squerryes Estate to a bridleway based on evidence from 1957-1977
• Acting for the Linden Homes in their successful objection to the application to register the ‘Public Square’ outside of Willesden Green Library Centre as a town or village green
• Appearing for Shipbourne Parish Council in their successful opposition to the controversial proposed diversion of a footpath in the Kent Downs AONB
• Acting for the successful landowner in the Rydens Way case (junior counsel to Douglas Edwards QC), the case was heard as a non-statutory inquiry on the legal point only and established that the doctrine of res judicata applies to prevent repeat village green applications in relation to the same area of land (reported at JPL 2012 (4) 497-520

Local government

Ned direct and practical experience of how local authorities work through part-time secondments undertaken early in his career. He has a good general understanding of local government law: for example, he has acted in housing possession and disrepair claims, advised on the funding arrangements for academies and drafted pre-action correspondence on the lawfulness of local authority constitutional arrangements. Recent cases include:

• Drafting proceedings and settling papers for an ASBO claim on behalf of a local authority
• Acting for Haringey London Borough Council in prosecutions on planning and social security matters
• Representing landlords of houses in multiple occupation that fall under the Housing Act 2004 (and HMO Regulations)
• Representing the Epping Forest Riders Association in their objection to Essex County Council’s introduction of cattle grids to the Epping Forest

In the rating context, Ned was successful counsel for the local authority in Edem v Basingstoke and Deane BC [2012] EWHC 2433 (Admin), a case on council tax exemptions.

Licensing

Ned has appeared before local authority representatives and the Magistrates’ Courts in relation to premises license applications and appeals.  He is a member of the Institute of Licensing and of FTB’s licensing group and has given presentations on licensing matters.  Among his cases, he has successfully acted for Medway Council in licensing appeals and (pro bono) for Lincoln’s Inn seeking an extension to the licence for the Great and Old Halls.

Land / property law

Ned has advised on easements, restrictive covenants and landlord and tenant issues.  He has appeared in front of the Tribunal to the Land Registry and has argued boundary disputes in the courts.

Other areas

Ned undertakes work in other areas of public law such as education, immigration and community care.  He also has experience as an advocate in Employment Tribunal claims, social security cases, road traffic disputes and debt claims.

Awards and Education

• Winner, UKELA Lord Slynn of Hadley senior mooting competition (2009 and 2010), on both occasions before Carnwath LJ
• Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln's Inn (2008)
• LLM (environmental laws), University of London (2007)
• DMH Stallard Prize for the best results on the Common Professional Examination (distinction) University of Sussex (2006)
• BA Classics (first class degree), UCL (2004), recognised on the Dean's List

Publications

• Cattle grids: legal issues RWLR 2013, Jan(4.1), 113-121
• Private nuisance and statutory controls Env L Rev 2012, 14(3), 224-223.
• Case note on Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd v East Sussex CC, RWLR 2012, May(15.3), 207-215
• Co-presentor, "2011's ‘hottest' cases reviewed" at the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association (UKELA) Conference 2011
• The Habitats Directive: how to deal with candidate SACs and potential SPAs? (with Gregory Jones QC) (March 2011, to be published as part of collection by Hart Publishing)
• Contributor to The Law of Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions (Norris and Phillips eds.) (Oxford University Press, February 2011), the leading textbook on the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008
• Chapter on public participation in UK CCS planning and consent procedures (with Meyric Lewis) in Carbon Capture and Storage: Emerging Legal and Regulatory Issues (Havercroft, Macrory and Stewart eds.) (Hart Publishing, July 2011)
• Update: planning SJ (2009) 153/47 25 (with Gregory Jones)
• Chapter on UK implementation in The Aarhus Convention at Ten: Interactions and Tensions between Conventional International Law and EU Environmental Law (Europa Law Publishing, November 2009) (with Prof. Richard Macrory)
• Costs, Protective Costs and Environmental Cases: The Ongoing Saga E-law 52 (July 2009) 7
• The new European Marine Strategy Directive (legislative note) Env. L. Rev. 2008, 10(3), 218-224