Richard Honey KC > Francis Taylor Building > London, England > Barrister Profile
Francis Taylor Building Offices
FRANCIS TAYLOR BUILDING, INNER TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7BY
England
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Richard Honey KC
Work Department
- Administrative and public law
- Environmental
- Compulsory purchase and land valuation
- Planning
- Local government
- Agriculture and Rural Affairs
- Arbitration
Position
Richard Honey KC practises as a barrister in the fields of public law and environmental law, with particular specialisms in judicial review and similar statutory challenges, infrastructure projects, compulsory purchase and compensation, and climate change and ESG litigation. He is called to the Bars of England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Richard appears most frequently in the Administrative / Planning Court and in the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber. He is also an experienced appellate advocate, having appeared in the Court of Appeal 21 times, including 16 appearances as lead/sole counsel, and in the Supreme Court four times. Until he took Silk, he was a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of junior counsel to the Crown, having spent some 12 years on the AG’s panels in total.
Richard has been ranked as a leading barrister in four separate fields in both the Chambers UK Bar Guide and Legal 500: local government; environment; planning; and, agriculture and rural affairs. He was the environment/planning junior barrister of the year at the Chambers UK Bar Awards in 2018 (nominated in 2016 also) and was nominated for planning and land use Silk of 2023 in the Legal 500 Bar awards.
In environmental law, Richard has since 2010 been ranked as a leading barrister by both Chambers and Legal 500.
In planning law, Richard has been ranked as a leading barrister by both Chambers (since 2012) and Legal 500 (since 2008). Prior to taking Silk, he was regularly ranked in the top 10 highest rated planning junior barristers in the Planning magazine survey and was ranked top of Band 1 in Chambers 2020 and the 2021 Legal 500. As a Silk, Richard was ranked in the top 30 highest rated planning Silks by Planning magazine in 2022. He is also ranked by Planning magazine as a leading barrister for infrastructure planning.
Richard has also been ranked by Chambers in local government (2014-2015, 2019-2022) and in agriculture and rural affairs (2015-2022), and by the 2023 Legal 500 in local government and agriculture.
Memberships
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2001)
Member of the Northern Ireland Bar Library in Belfast
Member of the Government Legal Service for Northern Ireland Senior Counsel Panel (2023)
Former member of the Attorney General’s Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown (A Panel 2016-2021; B Panel 2014-2016; C Panel 2008-2013)
Former Chairman of the Compulsory Purchase Association (2012-2013)
Member of the Bar Council
Member of the Committee of the Administrative Law Bar Association
Member of the Committee of the Planning and Environment Bar Association
Member Parliamentary Bar Mess
Member Northern Ireland Public Law Bar Association
Member Northern Ireland Planning Bar Association
Member Environmental and Planning Bar Association Northern Ireland
Member Compulsory Purchase Association
Member National Infrastructure Planning Association
Member of the Planning Court Users’ Group
Member of the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber Users’ Group
Chairman of the steering group of the UK Sierra Leone Pro Bono Network
Barrister Governing Bencher of the Inner Temple (2021)
Education
- Called to the Bar of England and Wales (2003; QC 2021)
- Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland (2013)
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- Called to the Bar of England and Wales (2003; Silk 2021)
- Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland (2013)
Richard was the planning decisions editor of the Journal of Planning & Environmental Law from 2009 to 2016 and an editor of the Planning Appeal Decisions (Sweet & Maxwell) from 2004 to 2012.
Although he is clerked exclusively through FTB, Richard holds an associate tenancy at KBW Chambers in Leeds, to assist his work for clients in the north and north-east of England. Richard is a member of the Northern Ireland Bar Library in Belfast.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Environment
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Richard Honey KC – Francis Taylor Building ‘Richard is an excellent barrister, thoughtful and strategic in his approach to cases.‘
Climate change mandates have been a prominent feature of Francis Taylor Building‘s environmental caseload. Richard Honey KC and Conor Fegan successfully represented the defendant in R (Friends of the Earth) v UK Export Finance & Others, a case concerning the UK government’s financing of the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant in Mozambique which allegedly was in conflict with the Paris Agreement. In another matter, Merrow Golden, unled, successfully defended Mansfield District Council, meaning the proposed residential development of over two hundred new homes can go ahead, despite opposition citing alleged disturbance to local nature and wildlife sites.
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Richard Honey KC – Francis Taylor Building ‘Richard is a responsive and highly organised silk.’
London Bar > Planning
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Richard Honey KC – Francis Taylor Building ‘Richard’s knowledge of planning law is excellent, as is his ability to pull the team together, identify key issues and lead each member meticulously to achieve a successful outcome for the client. His advocacy is polished and delivered with exceptional flair.’
As ‘one of the leading barristers sets for planning‘, Francis Taylor Building provides a full spectrum planning practice. The chambers has an established and ‘deserved strong reputation‘ as an infrastructure set but has also seen a recent increase in residential schemes, from planning appeal inquiries to strategic advice to developers. A number of members have been instructed on the Sizewell C nuclear power station; Hereward Phillpot KC led for NNB Generation Company (SZC) Limited, a subsidiary of EDF; Andrew Tait KC is acting for the local planning authority, East Suffolk Council, in the ongoing hearings; and Hugh Flanagan is acting for EDF Energy on its application for development consent and appeared in the High Court. Members of chambers are involved in the litigation concerning the proposal to build a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre over part of Victoria Tower Gardens; Meyric Lewis KC represented opponents London Gardens Trust and Save Victoria Tower Gardens, and Kate Olley acted for the Secretary of State and the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. Richard Honey KC led the team of counsel on Friends of the Earth & South Lakeland Action on Climate Change v SSLUHC, defending two judicial reviews of the government’s approval of the Whitehaven coal mine. Simon Bird KC led Flanagan in Aquind Ltd v SSBEIS, appearing for the claimant after the Secretary of State refused a DCO for the proposed 2GW Aquind electricity interconnector between Le Havre and Portsmouth.
London Bar > Local government (including rating law)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Richard Honey KC – Francis Taylor Building ‘Richard is always very clear and helpful in his advice and works very well as part of the client team.’
Francis Taylor Building contains ‘some of the brightest and best barristers in this field’, routinely acting in local government and ratings matters. Richard Glover KC led Cain Ormondroyd in Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc v Ricketts (VO), a complex appeal in the Upper Tribunal regarding the application of religious rate-exemptions for the Scientology movement’s London sites. Richard Honey KC represented JD Wetherspoon as sole counsel in a settled claim between JD Wetherspoon and Birmingham City Council over compensation for the compulsory acquisition of one of the pub chain’s leaseholds. Hugh Flanagan acted in the test case of Vistra International v Bunyan (VO), a dispute regarding whether Covid-19-related factors affected liability for business rates.