The Legal 500

Position

Roy specialises in environment and planning. Since taking silk in Scotland Roy has appeared in most of the significant Scottish planning inquiries. These include: the Braehead retail inquiry, the Gyle retail inquiry , the Harris super-quarry inquiry, the Gartosh gas fired power station inquiry, and the Princess Street Galleries inquiry. He has appeared for the promoters of, and objectors to, major transport schemes that have been before the Scottish Parliament, including: Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway Bill, the Glasgow Airport Rail Link Bill and the Edinburgh Tram Bills. In England he appeared for the developer in an appeal under the Channel Tunnel Railway Link Act 1996 concerning the redevelopment of St Pancras Station. He has acted in many court actions in Scotland concerning planning matters. He acted for the developer before the House of Lords in City of Edinburgh Council v Secretary of State for Scotland and Revival Properties Limited. He acted for the developer throughout the proceedings following the Harris super-quarry Inquiry, including a successful judicial review challenge and the application to quash the decision to refuse planning permission which was conceded by the Scottish ministers. He acted for the developer in the unsuccessful challenge to the permission for construction of the Cairngorm Mountain Railway. He has acted in a number of court actions and inquiries related to waste and environmental matters, including cases in Scotland concerning the use of fuel derived from sewage in a coal fired power station and the existence of nuclear particles on a beach adjacent to the former Dounreay Nuclear facility. In England, he appeared in judicial reviews arising from the proposal to break up former contaminated US Navy ships (The Ghost Ships) in Hartlepool. In Scotland he has acted and advised in many matters concerning compulsory purchase. He appeared for the proposed developer in a series of challenges by judicial review to the proposed use of compulsory purchase powers, and in the ultimate appeal to the House of Lords in 2007 in Standard Commercial Properties Limited v Glasgow City Council. Publications of note: author of the Public Local Inquiries chapter in the ‘Scottish Planning Encyclopaedia’. He has lectured and spoken at many conferences on planning law and commercial landlord and tenant law.

Career

Called 1976 in Scotland, 1987 New South Wales, 1990 England; QC 1988 in Scotland, 2008 England; co-chair of the Forum for Barristers and Advocates of the International Bar Association 2002-06; co-chair of the International Council of Advocates 2004 to date; dean of the Faculty of Advocates, (the elected leader of the Scottish Bar) 2004-07.

Member

Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland since 2007; Australian Bar Association (honorary member) 2008; Planning and Environment Bar Association; founding chairman of the Scottish Local Government and Environmental Bar Group; affiliate of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

Practice Areas

Environment; Planning