- My first year of Chair has been made immeasurably easier by the support and hard work of the PEBA committee members. I am grateful to them all and in particular my Vice Chair Melissa Murphy KC and the committee officers for all their support and hard work.
- We have managed to pack in a great deal in the last 12 months aimed at benefiting our membership. In doing so I hope this has continued to ensure that being a PEBA member is worthwhile. Amidst busy diaries and practices the organization of our PEBA work has only been possible due to the excellent support from our Administrator Susan Monteiro. The other key foundation for any association – finances – have been kept in good order by our Treasurer Ashley Bowes.
- One of the objects of the Association is to ‘provide opportunities to meet and discuss matters of interest. To that end, our schedule of events has been a busy one. We have sought to provide useful and informative events that are free for PEBA members at all levels of call. Most of the presentations from these events are available in recorded form in the members login area of our website.
- By way of example our ‘Applying for Silk’ seminar in January of this year provided an insight from the Chair of the King’s Counsel Appointments Panel tailored to our main practice areas which we hope will encourage perhaps a more diverse range of practitioners to apply. It was useful not least for dispelling many myths that have grown up in relation to what is and what is not actually required to apply for silk successfully.
- In terms of the use of social media last summer PEBA welcomed the Chair of the Bar alongside Mary Cook and Charlie Banner KC who gave some fascinating tips and insights into ‘Social Media use and the Planning Bar’ in an online seminar. It is essential viewing – perhaps especially for those who are planning a LinkedIn presence or even a revamp who want to avoid pitfalls and make use of the opportunities social media can bring.
- In October PEBA (led by Victoria Hutton) hosted a webinar on inquiry advocacy with a senior planning Inspector (Katie Mc Donald) telling us what is most valued and helpful to Inspectors – both from barristers and from experts. In November Mr Justice Mould joined us in his new role as the Planning Liaison Judge for an in-person event and provided a useful insight for our membership into the best and most persuasive forms of oral and written advocacy in the Planning Court. In February 2025 we teamed up with ALBA to host a seminar (Chaired by Dove J and organized by Richard Honey KC) discussing lessons to be learnt for judicial review generally from recent environmental judicial review cases.
- Our PEBA National Conference in May of this year returned to the wonderful lecture hall facility at Hogan Lovells. I am grateful to Hannah Quarterman at Lovells for generously agreeing to host us. Organised superbly by Richard Kimblin KC and Susan Monteiro the day was a great success. Leading speakers from across all the main PEBA sets and from the Planning Inspectorate delivered excellent presentations to an audience with key representatives from the Bar, government and the public/private sectors. Our keynote speakers were Lord Sales, Justice of the Supreme Court and Peter Ashford (Office of Environmental Protection). This event continues to be important and we aim to build on the success of it for next year.
- We continue to pursue with vigour the aim of making our areas of the profession more diverse by encouraging persons from a wide range of backgrounds to apply to the main PEBA sets.
- To that end in November 2024, we organized a large hybrid event for students which took place in the Inner Temple. I am very grateful to Inner Temple for generously giving us free use of their state-of-the-art lecture theatre and facilities and for assisting us in ensuring students attended by helping advertise the evening. The evening saw PEBA member speakers from all the main sets provide advice on how to pursue a career at the planning and environment bar and explaining what we do. Several eminent honorary members attended with no less than three senior Court of Appeal judges (Lindblom, Holgate and Singh LJs) and a High Court Judge (Dove J) in attendance. All generously stayed on to meet students at a drinks reception afterwards. Our president Sir Keith Lindblom gave an inspirational speech on life at the planning bar which is essential viewing on our website.
- We continue to support the Planning and Public Law mentoring Scheme for underrepresented groups at the Bar – now in its 5th In conjunction with the Inner Temple and their progressive programme of insight events we will be providing speakers from PEBA in the coming months to explain to future barristers the nature of the work we do. At the same time, Tora Hutton (PEBA’s equality and diversity officer) continues to pursue several important initiatives and monitors progress generally on behalf of PEBA relating to equality of pay and opportunity at the bar about which we will hear more in the coming year.
- Our links with the judiciary remain strong. As I have noted already, many of our events have been supported by honorary judicial members. I am pleased to report we have two new honorary judicial members this year – Singh LJ and HHJ Jarman KC. PEBA has also sent our congratulations to Sir Ian Dove, one of PEBA’s greatest supporters, on his elevation to the Court of Appeal.
- One of the great benefits of retaining strong links with the judiciary is that it enables PEBA to more easily set up schemes with judges for the benefit of members. In relation to the junior end of PEBA, the PEBA marshalling scheme continues to go from strength to strength. At the end of last year, Mould J kindly agreed to continue the High Court Scheme initiated in conjunction with PEBA by LJ Holgate that has proved so useful to practitioners in their early years at the bar. For a recent example of the benefits of it please see the account on the PEBA website by Jemima Lovatt (6 Pump Court) of her time as a Marshall with Mrs Justice Lieven earlier this year.
- We remain immensely grateful to the judiciary (in particular Mr Justice Mould, Mrs Justice Lieven and Lord Justice Holgate and their clerks) for their continued support in our judicial Marshalling schemes. With the support of Lord Justice Holgate we are delighted to announce that there will now be opportunities to Marshall in the Court of Appeal in addition to the High Court.
- In relation to planning inquiries, our successful marshalling scheme with the Planning Inspectorate in England is now also being extended to Wales with the support PEDW and we are very grateful to both PINS and PEDW for their continued support in that regard.
- It is of course important that we continue to foster good relations with others who lead in our areas of work so that we can represent the interests and views of our membership. To that end we meet informally and regularly with the Chief Inspectors and their colleagues at the Planning Inspectorate and PEDW to relay concerns/issues that our members have raised with us and also to share positive feedback. We also listen to the issues they have. This has – behind the scenes – provided a helpful and constructive approach to several practical issues relating to appeals. We encourage all members to inform committee members (each set has at least one representative) if there are any issues they would like us to raise in this way. We have also provided PEBA members to assist in Inspectorate training in England and in Wales – which has been very positively received by both organisations and which has an obvious benefit to us in explaining the importance of and assistance the PEBA membership can give to a well-run appeals process.
- In the context of the increasing importance of planning to the economy and the range of policy and legislative changes being pursued, recently Melissa Murphy KC and I met with Paul Morrison (Planning inspectorate CEO) and Rebecca Phillips (interim Chief Inspector) to discuss possible further cooperation between the Bar and the Inspectorate in assisting the efficient operation of the appeal process. Further discussions are likely and we will relay to members any information we receive. We have emphasized the importance of the planning appeal process and the need for scrutiny of planning decisions. We have also met with the BSB and other organisations in the last year to continue to explain the role of our members and the importance of the work we do. Specialist Bar Associations are likely to become increasingly important points of contact with regulators and we aim to be well placed to ensure the interests of our membership are made clear. PEBA also has representatives attending Bar Council meetings and Planning User Group meetings providing useful input and relaying points relevant to our areas of work.
- The Annual PEBA Dinner was held in Lincoln’s Inn in June and provided a good opportunity for members and the judiciary and other VIP guests to meet and enjoy a fine evening of food and wine. It also gave PEBA an opportunity to congratulate in person our new silks and thank the many people who have contributed to the work PEBA does. This remains a good event and a meaningful way to connect with honorary members and thank various VIPS for work they have done with and for PEBA each year and I would encourage members of all call to attend it if they can.
- In terms of our formal responses to the proposed numerous legislative and policy changes we remain firmly politically neutral and limit our responses so far as we are able to matters that will assist procedurally. Led by Richard Kimblin KC members from across the main sets have worked quickly and with skill to provide responses to key consultations and we owe them our thanks. I would also like to pay particular tribute to Richard Honey KC for his work in the field of consultation responses and generally. In the last 12 months PEBA has provided responses on the proposed amendments to the NPPF, the BSB equality Rules proposals, proposals relating to Judicial reviews and NSIPS and proposals relating to Compulsory Purchase. Led by Victoria Hutton PEBA also gathered views of members and provided an important response to the independent review of bullying and harassment at the Bar being undertaken by Harriet Harman.
- In a year of many highs there were also moments of great sadness. The loss of two of our loved and admired members Jonathan Easton KC and Lisa Busch KC in the last 12 months was tragic. Both will be remembered for their brilliant lives and greatly missed. The particularly poignant note under AOB in the approved minutes from last year’s AGM records that Jonathan attended and thanked the Planning Bar ‘for the love that’ had been expressed to him.
- Looking forward to the next 12 months we already have much planned. We are in the process of organising seminars and events covering what we hope will be a range useful and informative topics for our membership. A seminar on judicial careers is being planned as well as potentially a joint event with UKELA and hopefully the publication of some information on the use of ADR in our fields of work. We will plan for our next National Conference and continue to liaise and work for members in the variety of ways we have been doing for the last 12 months. We will continue to liaise with the judiciary and the Inspectorate and government for the benefit of our members working in the fast-moving planning system and we welcome the input of our members on issues that concern them in that regard.
Tom Cosgrove KC July 2025