Christopher Stanwell

Christopher advises on planning law across public and private sectors, compulsory purchase, and highways matters.  

• Advised a major developer on a residential and student accommodation development in central London. This has included a public inquiry, a judicial review, Planning Performance Agreements, a GLA call-in as well as section 106 Agreements and viability assessments. 

• Advised on a range of data centres focussing on planning and environmental policies, highways matters, protected species, and utility/grid connections. 

• Advised a local authority on the promotion of a planning application and compulsory order to facilitate the regeneration of a dilapidated listed building into a hotel development. This required complex heritage, archaeological, and CPO advice.  

• Advised a local authority on all aspects of the promotion of a planning application and compulsory purchase order for a new civic centre and theatre on a sensitive site in the centre of Tunbridge Wells. 

Christopher advises on listed buildings, mixed-use regeneration schemes, leisure and retail developments. 

• Advised a listed REIT on all aspects of the planning and CPO process as well as statutory agreements for three major retail-led mixed-use redevelopment projects in Leeds, Southampton, and Sheffield.  

• Advised on numerous listed buildings and heritage assets including listed building consents, heritage impact assessments, and statements of significance, as well as conservation areas and world heritage sites. He has also opposed applications to list buildings at national and local level and successfully acted for clients who want to safeguard listed buildings and their settings from inappropriate development.  

• Advising on several landmark redevelopments in central London, including a new UK headquarters in King’s Cross, the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks, and the listed Millbank Tower. 

• Advised on the development for several regional shopping centres providing a mix of leisure and retail uses including section 106 and section 278 agreements.  

Christopher advises on the promotion of and objections to the use of compulsory purchase powers including claims for compensation in the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber. He also advises on the Crichel Down Rules, existing use value, and hope value. 

• Advised on the promotion of a CPO near Chichester to secure the land rights for an access road to deliver a housing development.  

• Advised landowners on the claims arising from the temporary powers on land in relation to the Thames Tideway project. 

• Advised Shell Pension Fund on a claim for compulsory purchase compensation against HS2 Limited. 

• Advised Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council on the compulsory purchase order and planning application for the Godley Green Garden Village which is a 2,350-unit carbon neutral scheme with associated infrastructure, community facilities, and green space. This has included advice on the impacts on Network Rail’s infrastructure. 

• Advised British Airways Pension Fund on very high-value compensation against HS2 Limited. 

Christopher advises on logistics and infrastructure projects and wider public law matters, assisting clients with governance, statutory obligations, and project implementation to enable effective delivery of large-scale, complex developments. 

• Advising REITS, landowners, infrastructure operators, statutory undertakers and local authority stakeholders on the Development Consent Orders (DCOs) and Transport and Works Act Orders for road, rail, and infrastructure projects. The purpose of the objections/representations is to protect their interests and provide continuity of operation. I have advised on the DCO process, the powers in the orders as well as protective provisions for statutory undertakers and landowners. 

• Advised an airport developer on planning and environmental matters, as well as the Development Consent Order and Airports National Policy Statement processes relating to its innovative proposals at Heathrow.  

• Advised a waste operator on the promotion of a Transport and Works Act Order in relation to its energy from a waste facility and rail sidings. The Order was promoted by HS2 after the operator successfully persuaded the House of Commons Select Committee that HS2’s original proposal should be amended. This included the negotiation of a complex agreement between the Secretary of State and HS2. 
• Advised on the promotion of and objections to numerous Transport and Works Act Orders, in particular for tram networks and rail projects such as the Docklands Light Railway.  

Christopher advises on judicial review and statutory challenges for claimants, defendants, and interested parties. 

• Advised Angus Energy plc in the Court of Appeal on a challenge to their consent for a test well at Balcombe. 

• Advised Crest Nicholson and Hallam Land on a judicial review of the decision of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to extend the emergency planning zone around the AWE establishment at Burghfield. This was a complex and highly sensitive challenge with multiple parties.  

• Advised Cornerstone on R (on the application of Mawbey) v Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd [2018] in the Court of Appeal on the interpretation of permitted development rights. 

• Advised in Faraday Developments Limited v West Berkshire Council, a leading planning and procurement case in the Court of Appeal, which resulted in the first declaration of ineffectiveness in the UK.  

• Advised the London Borough of Hillingdon on the HS2 Safeguarding Directives including a judicial review to them which went to the Court of Appeal. Also advised the London Borough of Hillingdon in a complaint to the United Nations Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee following the unsuccessful challenge to the Government’s decision to proceed with HS2 in the Supreme Court.   

• Advised Heathrow Hub in the Supreme Court on the legal challenge to HS2.

Christopher advises on energy projects spanning planning law, compulsory purchase, highways matters, and public law issues. 

• Advised on Development Consent Orders and Compulsory Purchase Orders for energy projects and grid connections along with associated rights such as wayleaves. 

• Advised on solar energy projects, focussing on deliverability and grid connections as well as battery storage. This has included advice on Best and Most Versatile Land, National Planning Polices and Guidance (including Green Belt, National Landscapes (AONBs) and heritage assets), Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment, as well as the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations. 

• Advised Cumbria County Council and the North-West Legal Consortium on the DCO process for the Moorside Nuclear Power Station Project and North-West Coastal Connection projects.  This focussed on the local authorities’ duties and interests. Christopher advised on compulsory purchase law, highways, infrastructure, environmental and planning/s106/s278/affordable housing matters.  

• Advised on the 2CO Project in the Don Valley. This was the UK’s and EU’s leading carbon capture and storage proposal. Advised on the DCO process, specifically with respect to power projects and motorways/highways infrastructure as well as grid connections, which included the promotion of a compulsory purchase order under the Electricity Act 1989. Also advised on the work necessary to implement the consents under section 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989.   

• Advised Barking Power Limited on its application for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for a 470MW extension to the existing 1000MW combined-cycle gas turbine power station. Advised on the preparation of the application, the EIA, and proposed conditions particularly in relation to combined heat and power, carbon capture and storage, issues relating to the gas pipeline, and connections to the grid. 

• Advised on the acquisition and funding of offshore wind projects including grid connections/substations, energy-from-waste projects, as well as solar, biomass, and anaerobic digestion projects. 

Recognised by Chambers UK for Planning 2018–2025 

Member of the City of London Law Society Planning and Environment Committee 

Member of the Compulsory Purchase Association 

Member of the National Infrastructure Planning Association 

Member of the Nuclear Industry Association