Hugh Flanagan > Francis Taylor Building > London, England > Barrister Profile
Francis Taylor Building Offices
FRANCIS TAYLOR BUILDING, INNER TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7BY
England
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Hugh Flanagan
Work Department
- Planning
- Infrastructure
- Compulsory Purchase and Compensation
- Rating
- Local Government
Position
Hugh specialises in planning and public law, with a focus on infrastructure, housing, compulsory purchase and compensation, and rating. He acts for developers, individuals, central government and local authorities. He frequently appears in courts and tribunals at all levels up to the Supreme Court, as well as at planning inquiries and examinations. He has consistently appeared in Planning Magazine’s survey of top-rated planning juniors. He is a member of the Attorney General’s B Panel of Counsel and an editor of the Encyclopaedia of Compulsory Purchase and Compensation.
Hugh is ranked as a leading junior in the Legal 500 and described in Chambers and Partners as “a very talented junior who can more than hold his own in the company of KCs” (2017), “a standout junior” (2022) and “very strong at written advocacy and a very neat cross-examiner – the sort of person who gets his opponent to make unforced errors” (2020).
Recent examples of his work include:
Acting for EDF Energy in promoting the Sizewell C nuclear power station
Acting for Heathrow Airport Limited in relation to its plans for a third runway
Acting for Network Rail in promoting the expansion of Oxford station
Appearing for London City Airport in securing planning permission for its airport expansion
Appearing for the valuation officer in the Supreme Court in Telereal Trillium v Hewitt [2019] UKSC 23
Appearing for the Secretary of State in the High Court in Manor Oak Homes v SSCLG [2019] EWHC 1736
Appearing for Cherwell District Council in the examination of its Local Plan to address Oxford’s unmet housing need and in the subsequent High Court challenge
Career
- Called: 2008 (Lincoln’s Inn)
Memberships
PEBA
ALBA
CPA
NIPA
Education
- Brasenose College, BA (Oxon) (1st class – ranked 5th in his year)
- GDL (Distinction)
- BVC (Outstanding)
During 2010-11 Hugh was appointed as Judicial Assistant to Lord Mance and Lord Kerr in the UK Supreme Court, where he assisted the Justices with many of the leading cases in his practice areas.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Planning
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Hugh Flanagan – Francis Taylor Building ‘Hugh is a very able and persuasive advocate, both in writing and in court.’
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 Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Hugh Flanagan – Francis Taylor Building ‘Hugh is just so bright. He drafts beautifully is an excellent advocate and a great team player.’
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.