Richard Moules KC > Chambers of David Holland KC and Jenny Wigley KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
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Richard Moules KC
Position
Richard was named the Planning and Land Use ‘Junior of the Year’ at the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023.
He undertakes work for private developers, central and local government, public bodies and interest groups. He has been on the Attorney General’s A Panel of Junior Counsel since 2018 and has acted for the Government in many of the most significant planning and environmental cases over the last five years.
Richard is consistently ranked as one of the top junior planning and environmental law barristers in the country.
Some of the recent high-profile cases Richard has been instructed on include:
Supreme Court
R (on the application of Finch) v Surrey CC (June 2023) – leading Nicholas Grant for the Secretary of State in a significant Environmental Impact Assessment case. The issue is whether an Environmental Impact Assessment for a commercial oil extraction project must consider the downstream greenhouse gas emissions arising from the oil’s eventual combustion by third party consumers.
Fearn v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2023] 2 W.L.R. 339 – led by Tom Weekes KC acting for residents successfully arguing that overlooking from the Tate Modern’s viewing platform is an actionable nuisance.
Manchester Ship Canal Co Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd (March 2023) – led by Jonathan Karas KC and James Maurici KC in a case about whether private watercourse owners can sue sewerage undertakers in trespass or nuisance in respect of sewage discharges, or whether the statute provides exclusive remedies for the regulators (Court of Appeal: [2023] Ch. 1 & High Court [2021] 1 W.L.R. 5871).
Secretary of State for Transport v Curzon Park Ltd [2023] UKSC 30 – led by David Elvin KC in a case about compulsory purchase compensation arising from the HS2 scheme. The issue concerned the relevance of other parties’ applications for Certificates of Alternative Development (“CAAD”) when deciding a CAAD application for the subject site. (Court of Appeal [2021] P.T.S.R. 1560 Upper Tribunal [2020] UKUT 37 (LC)).
C G Fry and Son Ltd v Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities [2023] EWHC 1622 (Admin) – leading Nicholas Grant in a case concerning the lawfulness of carrying out appropriate assessment at the condition discharge stage post-Brexit which has been granted a leapfrog certificate to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Privy Council
Lake v Attorney General of Anguilla [2022] UKPC 33 – led by Richard Clayton KC in a case about the correct valuation method for valuing land acquired by compulsion to extend an airport runway.
Chitolie v St Lucia National Housing Corporation (July 2023) – led by Myriam Stacey KC in a case concerning land registration and the protection of overriding interests of squatters in St Lucia.
Memberships
Appointed to the Attorney General’s A Panel of Junior Counsel
Education
Qualifications
- Law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (BA 2001; LLM 2003 (First Class)
- BVC (Outstanding) from the College of Law in 2004
Scholarships
- Alexander LLM Scholarship
Since 2003 Richard has been a supervisor in administrative law teaching students at a number of Cambridge colleges.
Publications
- Actions Against Public Officials: Legitimate Expectations, Misstatements and Misconduct (Sweet & Maxwell, 2009)
- Environmental Judicial Review (Hart, 2011)
Personal
Awards
- Shortlisted for the Legal 500 UK Bar Awards 2023 Planning and Land Use ‘Junior of the Year’
- Huston Putnam Lowry LLM prize
- Baron Van der Heyden De Lancey Prize by Middle Temple
- 1 Essex Court Prize for Advocacy by the College of Law, 2004
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Planning
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Richard Moules KC – Landmark Chambers ‘Richard is an outstanding barrister. He is very clever but self-effacing. He has excellent knowledge of the law and brilliant on his feet in court.’
Landmark Chambers is a ‘go to’ set that ‘is unequalled in depth in the planning field’. The chambers has an established reputation in the development sector, while also carrying out significant work in the government and local government space. The set’s ‘enviable choice of counsel, both junior and senior’, appears in significant inquiries, promoting large urban extensions, as well as major mixed-use developments and tall buildings. Heather Sargent acted for Marks and Spencer after its application to demolish and rebuild its flagship store at Marble Arch, Oxford Street was called-in by the Secretary of State; Matthew Fraser represented the main objector, SAVE Britain’s Heritage, during the two-week public appeal. Fraser, led by David Elvin KC acting for Horse Hill Developments, was also one of several members involved in R (Finch) v Surrey County Council, a case concerning the scope of environmental impact assessments of hydrocarbon extraction projects, and its application – Richard Moules KC represented the Secretary of State in the same case Court of Appeal and led Nick Grant in the ongoing appeal in the Supreme Court. Timothy Corner KC led Guy Williams KC in Secretary of State for Transport v Curzon Park Ltd & others, representing the Secretary of State in the Supreme Court in a case concerning if CPO valuations should be increased by nearby planning applications. Tim Mould KC, as was, was appointed as a High Court Judge, effective February 2024.
London Bar > Property litigation
Crossing over with the set’s expertise in planning and public law, Landmark Chambers have established themselves as a leading set across all aspects of property litigation including landlord and tenant and real estate disputes, as well as more niche areas such as telecommunications, protestor injunctions and village greens. Tom Weekes KC led Richard Moules KC in Fearn v Tate Trustees, a Supreme Court case in which the residents of a development of luxury flats were found to have been subjected to a nuisance by the viewing gallery on top of the Tate Modern’s Blavatnik Building. Simon Allison and Kimberley Ziya represented the successful appellant in FirstPort Property Services Limited v Settlers Court RTM in a landmark decision concerning the statutory right to manage blocks of flats. Timothy Morshead KC represented the energy company in Breen v Esso Petroleum, securing an injunction, and then the committal to prison for contempt of court of an individual who breached it by digging a tunnel in an attempt to stop the construction of the London Pipeline Project, based on economic torts rather than the law of nuisance or trespass. Justin Bates KC is notable for his residential property expertise – he is instructed for the residents in Global 100 v Jimenez, a case due to be heard by the Court of Appeal, after a “property guardianship” company was found by the tribunal to have run an unlicensed house of multiple occupation, therefore subjected to local authority fines and rent repayment orders.
London Bar > Environment
(2024 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Richard Moules KC – Landmark Chambers ‘Richard is technically excellent, and his advice is of the highest quality.’