Richard Broadbent
Richard was a solicitor at Natural England since 2010 and was the Head of Legal Services since 2017. Richard then joined Freeths LLP in January 2022.
Richard led on many of Natural England’s high-profile litigation and enforcement cases and provided advice to Natural England’s teams, for example, on the emergence of the Environment Act 2021 and Nature Recovery Green Paper.
Richard is a highly distinguished environmental lawyer and has worked on a number of high-profile nationally significant infrastructure, planning, and species licencing cases. Richard trained at Collyer Bristow LLP in London and holds an LLM in Environmental Law from UCL.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2007
Experience
- Natural England (2010 - 2022)
Education
- UCL (2008 - 2010)
- University of Durham (2000 - 2003)
4 Contributions by Richard Broadbent
PRACTICE NOTES
Biodiversity litigation in England and Wales: judicial review standards, scientific deference, weight to expert agencies, Aarhus costs protection, and the role of the Office for Environmental Protection
Background
The architecture of biodiversity law and policy is intricate. Spurred by pronounced post-war losses in biodiversity, a corpus of law has developed to confront the problem, though how effective it is remains unclear. The Introduction to Biodiversity Litigation (OUP, 2023) observes that, until lately, litigation has tended to centre on climate change before the judiciary or on the environment as a whole, rather than on biodiversity itself. However, biodiversity’s distinct features justify closer, subject-specific study within legal scholarship. Biodiversity law and policy have undoubtedly become embedded in governmental policy and rhetoric and in the jurisprudence of both domestic and international legal systems. This trajectory is set to persist, particularly as explicit links are increasingly drawn between restoring biodiversity and adapting to the effects of climate change. This Practice Note is designed to equip practitioners with the background and conceptual apparatus required when addressing biodiversity law. It focuses on the judiciary’s role in shaping biodiversity law and on the benchmarks and standards the courts apply to such cases. It illustrates these themes with examples from the increasingly large and expanding body of biodiversity litigation now available...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
EU–UK TCA environment and climate: level playing field, non-regression, carbon pricing, enforcement, bespoke dispute settlement and rebalancing; devolution and OEP; 2024–25 sand eel arbitration
Introduction
The EU‑UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is the accord between the European Union (EU) and the UK that took effect on 1 May 2021 after Brexit. It sets out preferential arrangements across core areas of EU‑UK relations, covering trade in goods and services, digital trade, intellectual property, public procurement, aviation and road transport, energy, fisheries, social security coordination, law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, thematic cooperation, and participation in EU programmes. These arrangements are supported by commitments to a level playing field and the protection of fundamental rights.
The EU entered into the TCA under Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In the UK, the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 (EU(FR)A 2020) established a framework enabling the TCA to be implemented by regulations, rather than giving the agreement immediate direct effect. For more on the EU(FR)A 2020, see New Analysis: Examining the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020.
The TCA is a substantial instrument, exceeding 1,200 pages, and is organised into parts, headings, titles and chapters, each focussing on distinct subject areas...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
UK biodiversity law and policy: Environment Act 2021, EIP 2025, LNRS and BNG, Habitats Regulations reform, LURA 2023, targets, duties, marine strategy and nature markets: a practitioners’ guide
This Practice Note examines UK policy, law and legislation in relation to biodiversity...
Environment
PRACTICE NOTES
UK biodiversity law: evolution, frameworks and key concepts—EU directives to Environment Act 2021; environmental principles, favourable conservation status, mitigation hierarchy, nature recovery and natural capital
Biodiversity legal and policy frameworks comprise a fast‑evolving and often intricate branch of law. In the wake of marked post‑war declines in biodiversity, a corpus of legal measures emerged to confront the issue. Results have been uneven; nevertheless, biodiversity law and policy now form a core element of government policy and the jurisprudence of domestic and international legal systems. This direction is set to persist, particularly as the ties between restoring biodiversity and adapting to climate change are drawn more closely. This Practice Note equips practitioners with the context and principal concepts underpinning biodiversity law. It explores:
the background to the legislative and policy frameworks that support biodiversity, and
the key concepts in biodiversity law
It also sits within a suite of biodiversity content comprising the following Practice Notes:
Biodiversity—UK policy and legislative framework
Biodiversity—international law
Biodiversity—litigation
The evolution of domestic biodiversity protection
Although environmental law is comparatively young, concern for wildlife and the safeguarding of the countryside is long‑established, particularly in the UK...
Environment
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