Bob McGeady - Consultant on Planning and Local Government related matters

Bob specialises in planning and development and has worked on many major agreements relating to residential and commercial developments, instructed by a wide variety of clients including local authorities, landowners, developers and community groups.

He has extensive experience in all aspects of planning (including advocacy at public inquiries), negotiation of planning terms, drafting planning agreements, project development and project appraisal. He regularly deals with complex Certificate of Lawfulness applications and high profile judicial review cases on behalf of parish councils and concerned individuals.

Bob was an independent board member of a large regional housing association for 10 years having chaired its development, audit and remuneration committees. He has previously been chair of a small homeless charity.

Bob has been recognised in the Legal 500 ‘Hall of Fame’ as an elite leading lawyer at the pinnacle of the profession for receiving constant praise from his clients.

His first book ‘Certificates of Lawfulness: A guide to Making and Determining Applications’,  was published in March 2018 and co-written with Meyric Lewis. A review of the book in the Journal of Planning Law described it as a “practical guide for those who have to engage with the issue of certificates of lawfulness. It is written from a practical point of view breaking down each aspect of the process from identifying the breach through to either drafting a certificate or crafting reasons for refusal. It will be of assistance to those who either regularly or infrequently engage with this process and is intended as an easy aide memoir to enable them to progress a certificate of lawfulness matter.”

Bob’s second book, also co-written with Meyric Lewis, is called ‘Planning Obligations Demystified: A Practical Guide to Planning Obligations and Section 106 Agreements’.

Bob is chairing the Commercial Property Development – 2023 Virtual Conference on 15 February 2023.