Danielle Spalding

Danielle is a Legal Director in the agriculture and estates team, providing strategic leadership and specialist insight across the agricultural sector.

She has extensive experience navigating agricultural land and business disputes, including partnership disputes, landlord and tenant matters, restrictive covenant issues, farming succession and proprietary estoppel claims as well as a wide range of Agricultural Tenancies Act and Agricultural Holdings Act matters. She also advises extensively on environmental schemes, regulatory frameworks and natural capital projects, and regularly supports clients in responding to developments in farming and wider rural land-use policy.

Alongside her dispute resolution practice, Danielle advises developers and energy clients on the rural land aspects of site assessment. Her expertise includes assessing risks arising from agricultural tenancies, occupation arrangements and complex ownership structures, enabling clients to progress development and infrastructure projects with clarity and confidence.

Danielle acts for a broad spectrum of clients, including farmers, landowners, landed estates, financial institutions, major banks, developers and others operating in the rural land market. Her deep understanding of both the commercial and regulatory landscape enables her to deliver clear, practical and commercially focused solutions to highly technical matters.

She is known for crafting bespoke, forward‑thinking strategies that support clients in navigating complex rural issues.

Recent work highlights

Acting for more than 30 farmers in judicial review proceedings following the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 scheme. The challenge resulted in DEFRA agreeing to partially reopen the scheme, allowing 2,650 frozen applications to be completed and securing more than £37m in cumulative benefit for farming businesses.

Representing the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council in defending judicial review proceedings brought by Wild Justice concerning alleged failures to issue livestock limitation notices on Dartmoor, raising significant issues under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Habitats Regulations.

Advising on and drafting complex settlement documentation to enable an estate client to recover possession of a substantial agricultural holding comprising a farmhouse, agricultural land, diversified farming enterprises and commercial property, involving multiple tenancy types including AHA 1986 tenancies, farm business tenancies and assured tenancies.

Acting for a high‑net‑worth individual in a £20m farming partnership and property dispute involving complex ownership structures, estoppel claims and tenancy issues.

Experience & education

Danielle trained at Ashfords LLP in the South West, she then joined Foot Anstey LLP’s Farms, Estates and Rural Land Team in 2014 and moved to Birketts LLP in 2026.