About Christopher
Chris is a South West based non contentious lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience of advising farmers and landowners in relation to agricultural and rural work, with a key focus on strategic land matters and residential development, with extensive experience across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
Core work is advising farmers, landowners and rural enterprises on unlocking value through land use change, diversification and development. Day to day activity includes advising on Conditional Contracts, Option Agreements, Promotion Agreements and Collaboration Agreements alongside land management work relating to agricultural and rural property. His career blends agricultural property expertise with prior housebuilder, promoter and large scale regeneration experience.
Chris recognises that adopting a pragmatic, collaborative and commercially focused approach is critical to getting transactions concluded with minimum friction and best possible outcomes. He works closely with commercial land agents to ensure that we clearly understand each parties’ objectives and positions, which guides our approach and advice.
Chris is a Fellow of the Agricultural Law Association (ALA) but also leverages industry knowledge gained through his involvement with family-owned residential development businesses. His practice is rooted in supporting the South West’s farming and landowning community in the generation of revenue though land development and diversification.
Sector expertise
- Agriculture & Estates
- Residential Development
Memberships
- Fellow – Agricultural Law Association
- Member – Country Landowners Association
Contact Christopher
Call: 0345 634 1727
Mobile: 0777 941 8033
Notable work & expertise
Recent work
- Advising on a large-scale biodiversity net gain credits sale and the creation of a 30 year management contract to facilitate the grant of a planning permission relating to a large scale urban regeneration site
- Advising a plc housebuilder as to a second phase option involving land being acquired from a rural estate subject to a complex Agricultural Holdings Act tenancy
- Advising on the sale of a redundant and disused former cattle market in Highbridge, Somerset to an affordable homes provider
- Advising on the sale of land in Tavistock for farming clients by way of Option to facilitate the construction of up to 820 new homes and the reinstatement of a previously disused district railway line connection between Tavistock and Plymouth involving both a Landowners Agreement and Escrow Agreement
- Disposal of land in Bideford, North Devon to a plc developer for the construction of 100 new homes
- Advising a government body as to the creation and subsequent operation of several large public funds intended to tackle the remediation of tall buildings affected by unsafe cladding – including the £4.5bn Building Safety Fund
- Assisting Homes England, the UK’s national Housing Agency, on various grant funded urban regeneration projects in multiple UK regions that would, if fulfilled, deliver in excess of 10,000 homes
- Advising on the sale of a 74 acre regeneration site on the edge of Plymouth that was the subject of extensive remediation prior to the site being brought to market
- Overseeing the sale of a private estate on the edge of Dartmoor, Devon comprising a principal estate house, 6,000 acres and two tenanted farms
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