Ashley Damiral

Practice Areas

Ashley Damiral is the Head of the CMS UK Planning Team and practices in all areas of planning, compulsory purchase and related law. Ashley advises developers, promoters and funders of complex regeneration and infrastructure projects throughout the development lifecycle, from initial strategy to implementation. He also acts for corporates, occupiers, utilities and other third parties to major project proposals.

Ashley has particular expertise in the residential, retail, hotels & leisure and energy and climate change sectors.

He specialises in advising on environmental assessment, consultation, affordable housing and viability, CIL, s106 planning obligations and other statutory agreements, planning inquiries and compulsory purchase and s237 powers and compensation. Ashley also has significant judicial review experience up to the Supreme Court.

Professional Memberships

Member of Planning Working Group, BCSC

Associate of Planning Committee, BPF

Member, Compulsory Purchase Association

Member, The City of London Law Society Planning & Environmental Law Committee

Work Highlights

Residential: Berkeley Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Crest Nicholson and other housebuilders on many complex developments across London and the South East.

Retail: Sainsbury’s on various London mixed-use regeneration projects and 50 different foodstore developments across the UK; and Value Retail on Phases 3 and 4 of Bicester Village.

Hotels: citizenM on four new London hotel developments, including in a public inquiry into heritage issues associated with the Tower of London World Heritage Site.

Transmission and Distribution: London Power Networks on the new deep cable tunnel project under the River Thames; and National Grid and Scottish Power on the Western HVDC Link project.

Offshore Wind: Statkraft, Statoil, EDPR and other developers of various Rounds 2 and 3 projects; and various bidders in the OFTO tender regime, on all aspects of the UK land and marine consents regimes, including Development Consent Orders.

Solar and Onshore Wind: Wirsol, Wircon, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Fund, Aviva and Low Carbon Solar on various solar and onshore wind developments.

Regeneration and surplus land: BT on the mixed-use redevelopment of Keybridge House, as well as five other major developments in the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area; Imperial College London on the development of the Imperial West campus in the White City Opportunity Area.

Third party compulsory purchase, s237 and compensation: M&G Real Estate, the Whitgift Trust, ECP Holdings and other third parties in CPO, TWAO and other proceedings for road, rail and other infrastructure and regeneration projects.

Education