Events

** Fully Subscribed** Breakfast Briefing - Environment Law Post Brexit - The Environment Bill 2019

Following public consultation last year on the Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill 2018, the Government introduced the Environment Bill 2019 to Parliament on 15 October 2019.  The Bill aims to deliver on the promise of a Green Brexit by creating a new Office of Environmental Protection, introducing Environmental Improvement Plans and enshrining environmental principles into domestic law.  It proposes a significant overhaul of environmental governance and protection post-Brexit and will be of interest to all those practising or advising in this field.

This breakfast briefing will discuss the implications of the Bill for practitioners, focusing in particular on the role of the new Office of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Improvement Plan regime and the role of the new environmental principles.  The briefing will also discuss how Brexit-related legislation could change the conduct of public law litigation in the environmental field more generally.

The breakfast briefing will be presented by:

Richard Honey: Richard practises as a barrister in the fields of public and environmental law, with particular specialisms in judicial review and High Court statutory challenges.  He is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel and is also called to the Bar of Northern Ireland.  Richard was ranked as a leading barrister in four separate fields in Chambers and Partners 2020 (local government; environment; planning; and agriculture and rural affairs) and was the environment/planning junior of the year at the Chambers UK Bar Awards in 2018. 

Merrow Golden: Merrow practices as a barrister in the fields of planning and environmental law. She has acted for local authorities, developers, environmental charities and local residents’ groups in these fields.  She has experience of judicial review, statutory review and local inquiry work, and during her first year of practice she gained considerable experience of the Transport and Works Act procedure through her representation of the Ramblers, Suffolk County Council and West Suffolk Councils in relation to Network Rail’s proposed Level Crossing Reduction orders in East Anglia.  She is rated as one of the highest rated planning juniors under 35 by Planning Magazine (2019) and is an admitted attorney in the state of New York.

Conor Fegan: Conor practises as a barrister in the field of planning and environmental law.  He has particular experience of judicial reviews and statutory challenges in these contexts.  He acts for a wide range of clients, including residents’ groups, non-governmental organisations and charities, local authorities and developers.  Notable recent work includes drafting representations on behalf of Friends of the Earth (Northern Ireland) in opposition to sand dredging in Lough Neagh.