The planning team in transatlantic law firm Womble Bond Dickinson’s Bristol office has helped it earn the title of the best in the UK in its sector.
Judges at the 2023 Planning Awards praised the firm for “the breadth of legal work” and noted that “the issues involved across these high-profile projects is simply staggering”. 
Womble Bond Dickinson’s planning and infrastructure team has acted on a series of high-profile schemes in sectors ranging from energy, aviation, residential, rail and road infrastructure, including many in Bristol and the South West.
Among projects put forward in the firm’s nomination for the Planning Law firm of the Year Award were:
- Securing Development Consent Orders on behalf of longstanding energy client Vattenfall for two offshore windfarm projects in the North Sea off the Norfolk coast. The schemes are expected to provide the equivalent electricity needs of almost 4m homes a year and save 6m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The scheme won Best Project at the 2022 NIPA awards.
- Advising North Somerset Council and the West of England Combined Authority to secure a Development Consent Order on the Portishead rail line, the largest UK local authority-led railway reopening project.
- Acting for landowner This is Gravity in securing a Local Development Order for its 616-acre net zero smart campus in Bridgwater. It is one of the largest and most complex LDOs in the UK with more than 1.1m sq m of advanced manufacturing and, according to reports, a possible site for Jaguar Land Rover’s multi-billion pound electric vehicle battery giga-factory.
- Working with Bristol Airport on its expansion plans, pictured, and increase in annual capacity from 10m to 12m passengers. Womble Bond Dickinson secured an initial planning permission granted on appeal in February last year following a public inquiry and successfully overturned a challenge which ended with the Court of Appeal refusing leave to appeal last month. A related compulsory purchase order for highway improvement works was also confirmed in March this year.
Womble Bond Dickinson head of planning John Bower, who is based in Bristol, said the firm had a strong history of advising on planning and consenting issues for some of the largest and most complex developments across the UK.
“In the last 18 months particularly, our team has had the opportunity to be involved in some major developments up and down the country, all expected to hugely benefit communities and the environment,” he said.
“As a firm committed to net zero by 2030, we’re proud to have advised our clients on these ground-breaking, sustainable projects which are helping to decarbonise the economy.”
The firm had been up against a very strong peer group, with all contenders significantly contributing to the development sector, he said.
“We’re thrilled that our planning work, the talent we have in our team and our clients’ trust placed in us with their exciting schemes were all recognised by the judges.”
Womble Bond Dickinson has more than 120 partners and around 450 lawyers in the UK, with its Bristol base the second largest of its eight UK offices. It also has 23 offices across the US.
Its UK planning and infrastructure practice advises international, national and regional clients on key issues combining legal expertise and sector knowledge.
Pictured, from left: Lizzie Tones, Vicki Redman, Kevin Gibbs and Jon Bower from Womble Bond Dickinson’s planning team in Bristol collect the Planning Law firm of the Year Award
