Simon Bird KC > Francis Taylor Building > London, England > Barrister Profile
Francis Taylor Building Offices
FRANCIS TAYLOR BUILDING, INNER TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7BY
England
- Set Profile
- Go to...
Simon Bird KC
Work Department
Planning
Environment
Administrative and Public
Local Government
Position
Simon is Head of Chambers.
Simon specialises in planning, local government, administrative and environmental Law.
He is a member of the Planning and Environmental Bar Association the National Infrastructure Planning Association and the Parliamentary Bar Mess
Simon’s past and present clients include major national house builders, port operators, international oil companies, airports, National Grid, rail freight operators, waste companies, hotel chains, executive agencies of Government, many local authorities and private clients. He has an extensive advisory, inquiry and advocacy practice.
Career
Ca11ed 1987, Middle Temple.
Memberships
PEBA.
Education
Ipswich School; University of Reading (1986).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Planning
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Simon Bird KC –Francis Taylor Building ‘He is succinct and direct. He has a very calm demeanour which can belie the severity of his cross-examination, while also projecting confidence in his approach, to reassure planning inspectors of the rationality of his arguments.’
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.