Clare Eccles
Clare Eccles
Clare Eccles
Biography
Clare is a Knowledge Development Lawyer in the Planning and Zoning (UK) team. She is responsible for the team’s knowledge management and training strategy, developing knowhow resources and monitoring legal and market developments.
Clare has over 15 years of experience in all aspects of planning and highways law.
Clare is a co-author of the Commercial Transactions Checklists published by Sweet and Maxwell.
Admissions
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England and Wales
Related Practice Areas
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Real Estate Sector
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Real Estate
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Planning & Zoning
Related Insights
Insights
Jul 05, 2024
Jul 05, 2024
Can a Starmer Government deliver meaningful planning reform?
Labour’s landslide victory marks the end of 14 years of Conservative rule and heralds a new era. But once the champagne corks have stopped popping at Labour HQ, the new Government needs to roll up its sleeves fast and steer a stagflation economy onto a path of dynamic growth. Is it time for developers to be optimistic?
Insights
Jun 26, 2024
Jun 26, 2024
General Election 2024: how do the Planning manifestos compare?
This Insight summarises the Planning aspirations of the Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrat manifestos for the UK’s 2024 election. Their shared focus is on housing, energy infrastructure and battling climate change. The Conservatives remain committed to the Green Belt and maximising brownfield and densification. Labour proposes new towns and increased use of compulsory purchase, with release of ‘grey’ belt. The Lib Dems focus on more localised strategies. Labour and the Conservatives both propose increases in offshore wind, nuclear and carbon capture, use and storage. Both resist fracking. Labour proposes new Government energy investment institutions. The Conservatives remain wary of onshore wind. The Lib Dems support nature-based solutions to the energy crisis given the imperative to tackle global warming.
Insights
Jun 20, 2024
Jun 20, 2024
Significant implications for environmental assessment of major projects
The Supreme Court’s judgment in R(Finch) v Surrey County Council [2024] UKSC 20 has potentially significant implications on how environmental impacts of major projects are assessed. The question at the heart of the case was how far ‘downstream’ from a development project the decision-maker has to look when assessing its likely environmental effects. The answer, according to a slim majority of the Supreme Court, is further than had previously been thought necessary. However, it’s not panic stations for all EIA development.
Insights
May 14, 2024
May 14, 2024
Operational NSIP reforms take effect
Details of how the recently confirmed operational reforms to improve the NSIP planning process will work in practice are beginning to emerge.
We have previously reported on which of the proposed operational reforms are confirmed, but following publication in April 2024 of various amendment regulations, new National Infrastructure Planning Guidance and PINS' launch of a new online platform, we now have a clearer understanding of the changes and how they will work in practice.
Insights
Apr 15, 2024
Apr 15, 2024
To retrofit or rebuild - is planning policy a help or hinderance?
Reducing the embodied carbon in the built environment has an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change. However, there is no national planning policy that incorporates such considerations in the planning process. Whilst a policy shift is on the horizon, the recent High Court challenge brought by M&S following the refusal of its Oxford Street store plans brings welcome clarity on where things currently stand for demolition and rebuild proposals.
Insights
Mar 14, 2024
Mar 14, 2024
Reforms to NSIP application process coming forward this spring
Changes to the DCO consenting process to be introduced this spring have the potential to help applicants navigate this system with more certainty and confidence. They introduce more flexibility into the process allowing the opportunity for applications to be processed in a way that is more appropriate and proportionate to its particular nature.
Insights
Mar 12, 2024
Mar 12, 2024
Important planning changes set out in new consultation
Some significant planning changes are proposed in a government consultation on ‘An Accelerated Planning System’ launched on 6 March 2024 alongside the Spring Budget (which closes on 1 May). These proposed changes cover new processes to speed up planning decisions, details of how the new route to vary planning permissions under s73B TCPA will work and possible solutions to facilitate the operation of overlapping ‘drop-in’ permissions to prevent Hillside risks arising in large schemes.
Insights
Feb 01, 2024
Feb 01, 2024
Important changes proposed to the siting of nuclear power stations
The Government’s consultation on the siting of nuclear power stations beyond 2025 reflects the changing nuclear landscape in the UK and proposes a new approach to national planning policy that is more flexible and developer led. This is potentially exciting for the developers and manufactures of advanced nuclear technologies such as SMRs if the new policy supports scalability and cost efficiencies. However, whether the proposed changes will provide optimal support warrants careful consideration, as we explain in this Insight.
Insights
Dec 13, 2023
Dec 13, 2023
Levelling up and Regeneration Act – considering climate change