Senior Legal Counsel - Planning

Senior Counsel (Reporting to Head Counsel Land & Property)

We are seeking an experienced lawyer, either a qualified solicitor or barrister, who is a subject matter expert in planning law, with deep experience in both conventional and infrastructure-related planning matters under the Town and Country Planning framework. This framework governs land use, development permissions, and infrastructure planning across the UK. The project you will be working on is one of the UK’s largest infrastructure schemes and benefits from its own dedicated Act of Parliament, the High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act 2017 (commonly referred to as the HS2 Act), which provides planning powers similar to those used in previous infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.


You may not be practically familiar with the HS2 Act and its powers in your work to date, but you will receive full training and upskilling in its application. This offers a significant opportunity to develop a specialist area of expertise and enhance your professional repertoire for future projects.
You will spend the majority of your time working closely with the Town and Country Planning team, leading the in-house legal planning function and deputising for the Head Counsel as required. This includes attending senior leadership meetings and contributing to strategic decision-making. You will also engage with and instruct a leading panel of legal firms who provide specialist opinions, managing their input to ensure value for money and high-quality advice.


A key part of the role is leading on complex planning litigation, including Judicial Reviews, planning inquiries, appeals, and tribunal claims, ensuring the project’s legal position is robustly protected throughout its lifecycle. You will also play a central role in developing junior lawyers within the team, supporting their growth and ensuring strong legal capability and resilience within the function.


Additionally, you will contribute to improving legal processes and templates, maintaining and developing standard documentation to ensure best practice, compliance, and consistency across the organisation.
While a sound understanding of compulsory purchase law will be part of your experience, it is worth noting that much of the compulsory purchase phase of the project has already been completed. Your focus will therefore centre on planning and infrastructure matters as the project evolves.


This is an exciting time to join a nationally significant infrastructure scheme, as complex and evolving aspects of the planning landscape continue to emerge, not only geographically as the project reaches new stages of completion, but also through critical interfaces with other major infrastructure bodies such as East West Railway and Network Rail.

The role could be based from London or Birmingham, the salary range shown here is for London.