Jeremy has been involved in numerous High Court challenges on a wide range of public law issues ranging from: local authorities' Standards of Conduct, to Assets of Community Value (ACV); from the repayment of s.106 monies, to the sufficiency of Reasons in judicial decisions.

Jeremy has also contributed to the work of the Law Commission, Department of Culture Media and Sport, Cabinet Office and former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, as well as the Bar Council, its Ethics committee and the Licensed Trade Charity, for whom he's a trustee and school governor.

Case Study & Testimonials

Upholding Monitoring Officer's decision in Standards of Conduct test case

In Taylor v Honiton Town Council [2016] EWHC 3307 (Admin) East Devon District Council (EDDC), as the 'principal authority', had received a complaint from the clerk to Honiton Town Council (HTC) that Councillor John Taylor had breached HTC's code of conduct when publishing a statement about her. The statement made serious allegations concerning a significant HTC building project to which he vigorously objected.

The interim monitoring officer at EDDC (as the independent 'principal authority') assessed the allegation and considered that a breach of the code had occurred. Councillor Taylor did not accept those findings. The matter was referred for investigation and then to a hearing of the EDDC Standards Committee. The latter concluded that the councillor had indeed breached the code of conduct. It reported its findings to HTC and made 'recommendations' regarding possible sanctions.

Upon the application for judicial review the High Court was required to decide:

• What was the status of a decision of an authority exercising its function as principal authority under LA 2011, s 28? Was a parish council bound to accept (as both HTC and EDDC contended) its findings of fact on the breach of the code?
• Was it a lawful sanction (as EDDC contended) to require a councillor to undergo retraining on standards of conduct? On this issue East Devon and Honiton took different positions, with HTC accepting the councillor's contention that such a requirement had been ultra vires.

On both issues Mr Justice Edis agreed with the position adopted by EDDC.

The District Council was represented by Jeremy Phillips:

"East Devon brought Jeremy into this highly charged and extremely sensitive case after one of the parties escalated matters by placing the issue before the High Court and East Devon was made an Interested Party.

Whilst there was no direct impact to the Council in joining the action, it was considered important for East Devon participate due our role as the 'principal authority'. Jeremy expertly guided us through the difficult ethical issues that arose in that regard.

Once joined the District Council was able through Jeremy's advocacy to maintain its complete neutrality as the independent 'principal authority', successfully persuading the High Court to adopt its views on both decision-making and sanctions."

Henry Gordon Lennox – Strategic Lead – Legal, Licensing and Democratic Services

Important Upper-Tier Tribunal decision on Assets of Community Value

Admiral Taverns Limited v (1) Cheshire West and Chester Council (2) Farndon Parish Council  [2018] UKUT 15 (AAC)  was the culmination of a prolonged and ultimately unsuccessful attempt by Admiral Taverns to persuade initially the First-Tier Tribunal (Case No: CR/2016/0022) and then subsequently the Upper Tribunal to adopt the test in Taylor v Courage Limited [1993] 2EGLR 127 when considering whether The Farndon Arms should be considered to be an asset of community value.

Jeremy Phillips represented CWAC in the Upper Tribunal, where the application for ACV registration was dismissed.

"I've also worked with Jeremy in a successful [from our perspective] Upper Tribunal appeal brought by a well-known brewery in an Asset of Community Value case. I've found it a pleasure and a rewarding professional experience to instruct him."

Local Government Solicitor