Sir David Keene, 15th April 1941 – 18th August 2026

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of a much loved friend and colleague, Sir David Keene. David was a leading Planning Silk, judge and after retirement from the Court of Appeal, associate member of Chambers.

David started at the Bar at what ultimately became 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square and quickly developed a planning practice notably on airports and major road projects. This was a time when public inquiries were considerably more dramatic than they are today. When promoting the Airedale Trunk Road in West Yorkshire, a crowd of people surged forward to grab David’s microphone. His junior, David Mole, ‘manfully sought to put himself between my microphone and the mob, and told me afterwards that he had found himself locked in a sort of rugger scrum, where his opponent was muttering in his ear: “Come on lad, give up. You can’t win. I’m a pig farmer”.’

He took Silk in 1980, appearing in major inquiries, including Stansted Airport and the Trafford and Bluewater regional shopping centres, and became Chairman of the Planning Bar. David’s last case at the Bar was also my first. He was promoting Manchester Airport’s second runway, leading Andrew Gilbart QC and Tom Hill, whilst I was part of the rival Liverpool Airport team, responsible for pouring Lionel Read QC’s champagne.

David was whipped away, part-way through the runway inquiry, to join the High Court Bench in 1994. Appointment to the Court of Appeal followed in 2000. David was one of the dominant planning judges until his retirement in 2009. His leading judgments are still well-cited today, in particular Ashford on the interpretation of planning permissions and the subsequent coda in Barnett.

After retirement from the English courts, he sat abroad, particularly in Qatar and joined many of his former colleagues at 39 Essex Chambers. His entertaining memoir, Leaving the Arena, was published in 2019.

David was, in the words of Edwin Glasgow KC ‘Massively clever but ridiculously modest’. He was unfailingly kind and helpful, whether in court, committees or socially.

Our sympathies go out, in particular, to his wife Gillian, children Harriet and Edward, and his five ‘wonderful’ granddaughters.

Richard Harwood OBE KC
Joint Head of Chambers