six pump court

05 Apr 2017

Planning enforcement and abandoned moorings 

The curtain has finally come down on the long-running planning enforcement case where William Upton has been advising the Broads Authority on the unlawful use of an old mooring basin. The continued pressure from the Broads Authority has now led to the landowner selling up, and abandoning his...

03 Apr 2017

The need for a new international environmental court

On 29 March, Stephen Hockman QC presented a lecture on the history of proposals for an international environmental court and explore how the idea might be taken forward, as well as discussing other related issues. The event took place in the Middle Temple Library. To view a copy of the...

03 Apr 2017

Stuart Jessop helps Taxi Association oppose new policy on knowledge test for new applicants

Stuart Jessop successfully represented a Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver's Association in their opposition to a local authority's proposal to replace an existing knowledge test for new applicants with a simplified version to make it easier for new applicants to apply and be granted...

03 Apr 2017

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Legal Duty

In an article published on this website, Frances Lawson discusses whether corporate social responsibility is making a move from ‘soft law’ to ‘hard law’. She comments specifically on recent developments in France where the French Parliament has recently passed a law to shift what is broadly...

31 Mar 2017

Critical Law and Corporate Crime

David Travers QC will be a guest speaker at the Critical Law and Corporate Social Responsibility Network Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. The focus at this event will be on critical law and corporate crimes - on the corporation as a legal person and it's capability and tendency to...

31 Mar 2017

Six Pump Court presents a series of Environmental and Public Law seminars

Members of the Environmental Law and Public Law Teams at Six Pump Court will be presenting a series of seminars covering both environmental regulation and also public law principles of general application. The Judicial Review and Water seminars listed below will form part of on-going series of...

29 Mar 2017

Six Pump Court barristers recognised in this year’s Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers was established in the USA in 1983 and describes itself as “the oldest and most highly-respected peer review guide to the legal profession worldwide”. Stephen Hockman QC, David Travers QC and William Upton are ranked as Leading Individuals in the new edition of the ‘Best...

28 Mar 2017

"Legal highs" and their role in serious crime

The so called legal high “Spice” has played a role in a number of recent murders. Legal highs, their chemical diversity and the speed of their development make this type of substance difficult to detect and deal with. In this article Richard Barraclough QC outlines two murder cases in which...

22 Mar 2017

Shaken Baby Syndrome – legal developments

Richard Barraclough QC and Kate Kelleher have written a paper outlining how medical opinion and the courts’ approach to “shaken baby syndrome” have developed. Richard and Kate recently undertook the defence of a young father who had been accused of murdering his six week old baby. The case...

21 Mar 2017

LPA decision to refuse permission for housing development upheld

Giles Atkinson has successfully defended at appeal a LPA’s decision to refuse permission for 95 houses on a greenfield site at Wivelsfield, East Sussex. The Secretary of State recovered the appeal and agreed with his Inspector’s recommendation that permission should be refused for...

21 Mar 2017

William Upton and Megan Thomas to speak at forthcoming PEBA National Conference

William Upton and Megan Thomas will be amongst the speakers at this year’s PEBA National Conference which will take place in May in London. The Conference entitled “Delivering sustainable development - reconciling the tensions” will focus on the delivery of sustainable development and...

20 Mar 2017

Rolled up holiday pay not holiday pay

In Robinson-Steele v R D Retail Services Ltd C-131/04, [2006] IRLR 386, the ECJ held that “rolled up” holiday pay was incompatible with the Working Time Directive, but left the door open for setting off sums actually paid under "transparent and comprehensible arrangements" (the test adopted...

17 Mar 2017

John FitzGerald secures acquittal of 12 year old accused of raping 8 year old sister

John FitzGerald, instructed by Reeves & Co. (Ashford), defended a man, now 23, accused of raping his sister when he was 12 and she was 8.  The back drop to the case was a miserable childhood for both involving a bitter separation of their parents and ensuing custody battle.  In his interview,...

17 Mar 2017

Environmental charities benefit from regulatory action

In an interview with LexisPSL, Christopher Badger comments on the recent coverage of the impact of the Environment Agency’s enforcement action on charities, who as a result, have received over £1.5m for various environmental projects. He considers the background to this development, the broader...

17 Mar 2017

Stuart Jessop represents company in licensing application

Stuart Jessop, instructed by Paddy Whur of Woods Whur solicitors, has successfully represented a restaurant and bar business in the company's application for two new premises licences. The restaurants/ bar businesses had been operating successfully for a number of years but the owner company and...

17 Mar 2017

Stuart Jessop acts for London Borough in case where near-maximum fine for breach of Planning Enforcement notice imposed

Stuart Jessop represented a London borough in its prosecution of a property company under section 179(2) Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for failure to comply with an enforcement notice. This was the third prosecution of the company under the same enforcement notice. The defendant had argued for...

08 Mar 2017

Resisting gentrification and refining general conformity with the local plan

Neighbourhood plans continue to generate controversy in the Courts. Megan Thomas has successfully defended the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan in R (Swan Quay LLP) v Swale Borough Council [2017] EWHC 420 (Admin) against an allegation that its Examiner did not give adequate reasons for...

08 Mar 2017

Pokemon Murder - Oliver Saxby QC defends

The trial of John Dickson and Christopher Pollard began on Monday. The pair are charged with murdering Carl Gregory in a shopping centre car park near Broadstairs. The Crown allege that Dickson (represented by Oliver Saxby QC, instructed by Bond Joseph Solicitors) intervened in an altercation...

06 Mar 2017

Employment Law 2017 Update (6 hours CPD)

Mukhtiar Singh and Ian Rees Phillips have teamed up with Central Law Training to deliver a number of seminars across the country in 2017. This follows on from training provided in previous years by Gordon Menzies and Grace Cullen. There have been numerous changes in Employment Law in the past 12...

01 Mar 2017

Challenging Costs limits in Aarhus Convention claims

The CPR rules on ‘Aarhus Convention Claims’ have just changed.  William Upton explains how the neat simplicity of the provisions have been replaced by rules that will allow for satellite litigation about costs.  Access to environmental justice has just become more uncertain. ClientEarth,...

27 Feb 2017

Examining Local Plan Reasons and Inspectors’ Guidelines

William Upton discusses the Planning Court’s recent judgment on the approach taken by the Inspectors’ guidelines when reporting on the soundness of development plans in a recent article for the Local Government Lawyer. The case, Cooper Estates Strategic Land Limited v Royal Tunbridge Wells...

24 Feb 2017

Water company fined over £200,000 for sewage pollution in Cornwall

In a case brought by the Environment Agency, South West Water has been ordered to pay £205,000 in fines and costs for discharging sewage into the Fal Estuary in Cornwall, near shellfish beds within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The case was...

24 Feb 2017

Low Fine for Company on Plea of Guilty to a Breach of a Planning Enforcement Notice

Stuart Jessop represented a property company at its sentence hearing for an offence under section 179(1) (2) Town and Country Planning Act 1990, namely that it, as the owner of the property, failed to comply with an Enforcement Notice. The company avoided a Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of...

20 Feb 2017

John FitzGerald secures acquittal in gun running case

The defendant was a serving prisoner having been sentenced to an I.P.P. for attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The defendant was a senior member of Birmingham gang, the "Johnson Crew". The defendant was accused of being the top of a conspiracy to supply a...

14 Feb 2017

Local Plan Reasons

The Planning Court has upheld the approach taken by the Inspectors’ guidelines to using short form reasoning when reporting on the soundness of development plans. William Upton represented Tunbridge Wells Borough Council who were facing a challenge to the adoption of their Site Allocations Local...