Stephanie Hall

Stephanie has particular experience of large scale projects including power stations, rail and road projects, energy and large residential and mixed use schemes. She has successfully represented appellants, local authorities and statutory consultees as sole counsel and as junior at planning inquiries, DCO hearings and in Court including:

•  representing and advising Lincolnshire County Council as host authority for six solar DCOs, a carbon capture and storage pipeline and onshore infrastructure for an offshore wind DCO.
• successfully representing a developer at linked appeals in Basildon which would collectively see the redevelopment of the whole town centre including several tall buildings, thousands of homes and commercial floor space
• advising and representing solar and BESS developers at inquiry and in court
• advising and representing developers on tall building schemes including BTR, student development and housing
• promoting local plans
• acting for developers and local authorities at housing inquiries raising five-year supply issues amongst other things.

Stephanie has been appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel of Counsel and regularly appears for the Secretary of State in challenges to Inspector’s decisions.

Stephanie’s ongoing work includes acting as sole counsel representing major solar and BESS developers in relation to a range of projects due to be considered at inquiries over the coming months, representing a national housebuilder in court, representing a developer in a major 4-week enforcement inquiry as junior to Christopher Katkowski KC, promoting a local plan in the Midlands and advising on an MSA proposal.

Infrastructure

Stephanie has experience and accepts instructions in relation to a variety of major infrastructure projects including those proceeding via all main consenting regimes i.e through Parliament, under the 2008 Act and TWAOs. She therefore has experience of a wide variety of infrastructure projects and the resulting compulsory purchase of land including:

• Stephanie is representing Lincolnshire County Council as host authority for a significant number of DCOs including solar, BESS, offshore wind and a carbon capture pipeline.
• Wylfa Newydd Nuclear Power Station DCO: acting as sole counsel for an objector wishing to amend the Order to provide for worker accommodation for 3500 staff to be turned into sustainable homes after the project.
• Strategic Rail Freight: acting as sole counsel for the planning authority in relation to a TCPA scheme for a strategic rail freight interchange.
•  HS2: Stephanie was instructed as sole counsel on two petitions at the Commons committee stage of the HS2 Bill; both clients obtained a successful outcome and for a client in the Lords where she successfully overcame the Government’s challenge to the locus of the client and assisted in obtaining the desired outcome for the client overall.
•   Acting as sole counsel for two major commercial clients in relation to the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade TWAO, both of whom reached successful negotiated settlements.
•  Onshore Wind: experience of both the Electricity Act regime and under the TCPA 1990.
•  Gas and energy: Stephanie has advised in relation to gas and energy projects including gas peaking plants and a number of solar farms.

Trees

Stephanie has a specialist tree practice and co-authored the sole text in this area – The Law of Trees, Forests and Hedges (Sweet and Maxwell). Stephanie has been successful in challenging a number of TPOs on behalf of developer clients via s.288 challenges where the TPOs were preventing the development of important sites.