Reuben Taylor KC

Planning

London: Reuben regularly advises the Mayor of London in relation to planning matters and to represent the Mayor/GLA at planning appeals. This included the appeal for Newcombe house in Notting Hill Gate. Reuben successfully represented Queens Park Rangers Football club the Court of Appeal in defending planning permission for a new training ground within Metropolitan Open land (i.e. Green Belt): Brown v Ealing LBC [2018]

Tall Buildings: Reuben has been involved in a number of contentious appeals relating to tall buildings including the proposals at Kensington Forum, Newcombe House in Notting Hill Gate, the Whitechapel Estate, Sainsbury’s Whitechapel (successfully defending Tower Hamlet’s refusal of permission) and a tower in Edmonton for St Modwen.

Technical Matters: Reuben is adept at dealing with complex and technical matters. He regularly advises on the intricacies of CiL. In 2020, he secured the quashing of a statutory instrument on behalf of the London Duck Tours company relating to navigational safety of passenger vessels on the Thames. The Secretary of State for Transport consented to judgment before trial.

Commercial/Retail

Reuben has extensive experience in the commercial and retail fields. He has been advising the development partners at Brent Cross in relation to its redevelopment, he regularly acts and advises Hammerson. He also acts for Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl and other retailers. He was successful in one of the leading cases on competing schemes: R. (on the application of Hawksworth Securities Plc) v Peterborough City Council [2016]. Reuben also successfully defended the grant of consent on behalf of developers in WM Morrisons Supermarket Plc v Hounslow LBC [2018] and in R. (on the application of Luna Stockton Sarl) v Stockton-on-Tees BC [2018].

Heritage

Notable experience in the heritage field includes winning the controversial Clerkenwell Close appeal for Amin Taha, defending the consent for development at Wolverton for St Modwen which involved demolition of some George Stephenson Railway Sheds and leading the appeal for planning permission for enabling development to preserve the most important existing collection of Samuel Wyatt buildings in existence at the Doddington Estate.

Infrastructure

Reuben has extensive experience spanning his entire career relating to infrastructure development including promoting the A303 improvement at Stonehenge for Highways England, continuing to advise Gatwick Airport Limited in relation to its plans for runway expansion, presenting the evidence on noise, ground settlement and highways on behalf of the Government for Crossrail and representing BAA at the Heathrow Terminal 5 Inquiry.

Residential

Throughout his career Reuben has advised and represented residential developers including, Bellway, Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson, Bloor Homes and Linden Homes. He has been advising Persimmons Homes in relation to their large site SW of Trowbridge. Reuben won for Corinthian Mountfield Ltd in the Court of Appeal in Shirley v Secretary of State [2019] an important decision relating to air quality and call-in. Reuben successfully defended the grant of permission for residential use of a 33-hectare site in the Green Belt: R. (on the application of Smech Properties Ltd) v Runnymede BC [2016]. In the same year Reuben won for Bloor Homes in Oadby and Wigston BC v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2016] a case relating to the interpretation of the NPPF.

Student Accommodation: He has secured consents on numerous sites for student accommodation and regularly acts for Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Sites he has recently secured permission on include Mill Road, Cambridge for McLaren Group, 166 bedspaces in a Conservation Area St. David’s Hill, Exeter, Devon and Pritchatts Park for the University of Birmingham.

Cross-practice

Landmark's barristers often work at the intersection of our core practice areas; bringing a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience to bear on a particular dispute or issue facing a client.

Our focus is always on achieving the best possible outcome for our client. By viewing the client's objectives in a holistic way - and not purely through the lens of one rigidly-defined legal area - we deliver the best possible advice and representation in complex matters that engage multiple specialist areas of law. 

Whether it's providing support as an individual cross-practice barrister or a cross-disciplinary team of Landmark counsel, we are able to draw on an outstanding array of complementary skillsets and knowledge bases. This often achieves a better result than instructing multiple barristers from different specialist sets. This also improves the quality of client care through increased levels of communication, quicker response times, and a coordinated approach to clerking and fees, made possible by our team-based cross-practice approach.

Please contact our practice management team for more information.

Energy

EU Law post-Brexit

Highways and Rights of Access

Local Government

Public Works Projects

Telecommunications