Jim Ryan

Consultant Partner
About
Expertise
Recent Work
Accolades

Jim is an experienced specialist town and country planning lawyer whose practice also includes contentious matters, compulsory purchase, highway law, rights of way and the law of commons, and town and village greens.

Jim also provides planning advice to lenders of development finance as part of the lenders’ necessary due diligence processes.

His early career was spent as an engineering technician in local government and then as an infrastructure designer in the housebuilding industry, before reading for a law degree at UWE Bristol and subsequently training with Burges Salmon in Bristol.

In June 2010, Jim was appointed to an in-house role as Head of Legal Services to M J Gleeson Group plc, a role he held until the end of 2014.

*James Ryan is a Consultant at Acuity Law working on a self-employed basis*

  • Town and Country Planning (with a bias towards contentious matters)
  • Compulsory Purchase
  • The law of Highways and Rights of Way
  • The law of Commons and Town and Village Greens
  • Pezaro & anor -v- Bourne & Anor 2019 [EWHC] 1964 Ch (successful defence of a challenged private right of way, including court advocacy
  • R (Gleeson Developments Ltd) -v- SSCLG [2014] EWCA Civ 1118 and [2013] EWHC 3166 (Admin) establishing that once planning permission is issued it cannot be withdrawn due to a mistake by the decision-maker
  • R(Webster) -v- The Government of Anguilla (2010) successful judicial review of offshore development
  • R (Cheltenham Builders Ltd) -v- South Gloucestershire Council [2003] EWHC 2803 (Admin) successful judicial review of registration of land as a town or village green in an effort to prevent development
  • Jim was shortlisted for the Award for Partnership Working category of the Planning Awards 2021
  • The Planning & Environmental Team is ranked Tier 2 in The Legal 500
  • The Construction Team is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners
  • The Construction Team is ranked Tier 3 in The Legal 500
  • The Social Housing Team is ranked Tier 2 in The Legal 500
  • The Social Housing Team is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners
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