Winding down

After some 44 years in practice as a solicitor, during nearly the whole of which I have specialised in the law and practice of Town and Country Planning, not to mention the years that I spent in the profession before being admitted as a solicitor, I have finally decided that it is high time that I retired. Planning law is an area of work that I have always enjoyed, and it was for this reason that I carried on for some considerable time after what most people would think of as a ‘normal’ retirement age. But none of us can go on for ever, and so I have finally hung up my metaphorical wig. (As you are no doubt aware, solicitors don’t actually wear a wig, but I did do a great deal of heavy-weight advocacy at planning inquiries, and long ago lost count of the number of public inquiries and hearings in which I had appeared.)

I first opened the pages of the Planning Encyclopedia as long ago as 1967, if only for the purpose of filing new loose-leaf pages, and I drafted my first notice of appeal (on behalf of my principal) in 1970. It was addressed to the Minister of Housing and Local Government (just a few months before Ted Heath created the Department of the Environment as a new ‘super-department’), as well as drafting some written representations in a couple of planning appeals.

It took me a lot longer to qualify as a solicitor than it should have done, due to my having got involved in politics, which proved to be a considerable distraction. However, I realised that I really did have to concentrate on the two papers in the solicitors’ finals that I had repeatedly failed – Revenue Law and Equity & Succession. I really don’t know how I eventually managed to get through these two papers; the Rule in Earl of Chesterfield’s Trusts and the doctrine of election are as much a mystery to me now as they ever were. Just as well, then, that my interest even at that time was focused on town and country planning, and that I took the opportunity of pursuing this as my career.

I gave up politics ‘temporarily’ in order to concentrate on my finals, but I never went back to politics. I have never lost my interest in the subject, but purely as a spectator and commentator. If I am asked what alternative career I would like to have pursued, it would have been as a political journalist. (I fear that this may have been all too obvious at times from the contents of this blog.)

To echo the words of Theresa May, I have decided that “Retirement means Retirement”, and so I am not tempted to continue in some sort of consultancy role. However, I shall not be closing this blog, but now that I have retired from active legal practice, posts are likely to appear rather less frequently in future. In fact, you may already have noticed a reduction in the number and frequency of posts. But I am sure that I shall be unable to resist commenting on planning topics from time to time, and I have no intention of taking down my previous posts, which will remain available to be read by anyone who’s interested.

And then of course there are also my two books (A Practical Guide to Permitted Changes of Use and The Essential Guide to the Use of Land and Buildings under the Planning Acts). Both of these will clearly require new editions in due course.

So maybe I shan’t be riding off into the sunset just yet.

© MARTIN H GOODALL