Guy Roots retired as a practising member of the Bar in April 2021 having specialised in town and country planning, environment, compulsory purchase and compensation, rating and valuation, and other local government and administrative law subjects with a wide range of clients including companies, public utilities, local authorities, government and other agencies and individuals. He appeared in a wide variety of Courts and Tribunals including public inquiries, arbitrations, the Lands Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal, the High Court, Court of Appeal and House of Lords His practice extended to Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.
Guy Roots KC became one of the leading experts in compulsory purchase having acted in numerous cases for both acquiring authorities and landowners. He acted for the acquiring authority in relation to the compulsory purchase of 300 hectares for the London Olympic Games 2012. He also became one of the leading experts on the assessment of compensation for compulsory purchase and other forms of statutory compensation (such as wayleaves for electricity transmission lines). He appeared in numerous leading compensation cases in the Lands Tribunal, Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal, several of which arose out the acquisition of land for the Olympic Games and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1).
Between 2000-2019, he was the principal author and General Editor of the looseleaf work ‘The Compulsory Purchase and Compensation Service’ initially published by Butterworths, now published by Bloomsbury Professional, and he remains Consultant Editor. He was also General Editor of the first three editions of the single volume work ‘The Law of Compulsory Purchase and Compensation’, published by Bloomsbury Professional, and remains Consultant Editor of that work also.
He is a former Chairman of the Planning and Environment Bar Association and has been a member of the CPA since its creation. In 2024, he was made an Honorary Member of the CPA.
He is available to conduct ADR (eg mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation) in compulsory purchase disputes. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has been appointed to the RICS panel for the determination of compulsory purchase disputes.