Piers Riley-Smith has successfully appeared in two Court of Appeal cases both heard in the same week.
In A & E Baines v North Yorkshire Council [2026] EWCA Civ 257, heard on 3rd March, Piers successfully defended an appeal concerning the legality of several Traffic Regulation Orders promoted in the centre of Harrogate as part of a multi-million-pound active travel scheme.
The case is one of the few examples of the Court of Appeal considering Traffic Regulation Orders and is particularly helpful in clarifying and confirming that such orders do not always require underlying expert technical evidence to be justified.
Piers was instructed by Catriona Gatrell at North Yorkshire Council.
The judgment can be found here.
News coverage of the case can be found here.
In Epping Forest District Council v Somani Hotels Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 264, heard on 5th March, Piers, led by Jenny Wigley KC, successfully resisted Epping Forest’s application for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal, following its failure to secure a final injunction against the Bell Hotel in the High Court.
The case, which received national coverage, concerned the use of the Bell Hotel to accommodate asylum seekers. Piers had been instructed as sole counsel in resisting the interim injunction in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and appeared with Jenny Wigley KC in the final injunction hearings.
This latest judgment, the final decision in these proceedings, provides an important reiteration of the principles governing applications for a s.187B planning injunction and underscores the critical importance of local authority decision-making leading up to the decision to seek injunctive relief.
Piers and Jenny were instructed by Lisa Foster at Richard Buxton Solicitors.
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