Planning

A core function of our planning team is the preparation and submission of planning and associated applications. In addition to the standard outline and full planning applications, our RTPI accredited planners have significant experience is preparing and submitting applications for listed building consent, advertisement consent and MMO licences, amongst others.

In most cases, we will prepare either a detailed Planning Statement or a Design, Accessibility and Planning Appraisal in conjunction with our other in-house teams or other collaborative partners. Our planning team regularly attend Planning Committees and Town and Parish Council meetings to promote our projects, and ensure that discussions and negotiations take place with local authority officers and statutory consultees in order to secure positive outcomes for our clients.

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A Certificate of Lawfulness is issued by your local planning authority to certify that a proposed or existing development is lawful. They are not compulsory, but are recommended if you want to be certain that an existing building or use of a building is legal in planning terms, or that your proposal does not require planning permission.

Certificates for existing uses or development are useful if you are hoping to undertake development on an existing developed site, but where there is no planning history, or the existing development was undertaken without the required planning permission. Certificates for proposed uses or development are used where certainty is required that a particular use or operational development is either permitted development or not development at all.

Our team of RTPI accredited planners are experienced in dealing with both types of application.

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Planning enforcement is a discretionary power conferred on local planning authorities, and is regularly used where development is considered to be unacceptable in the context of planning policies and other material considerations. Most local planning authorities will seek to resolve breaches through negotiation and/or the submission of applications to regularise the development undertaken. However, in some cases, formal action will be taken and our RTPI accredited planning team can assist in defending such cases.

We will initially assess the development and advise on the likelihood of achieving a successful outcome before advising on which avenue is the best to take.

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Appeals are usually employed as a last resort, but can be useful in cases where local planning authorities will not agree to the principle of development or it appears that, whatever alterations are made to a scheme, permission is not forthcoming. Our advice is normally to seek to amend proposals to seek to overcome issues raised by the local planning authority, but our RTPI accredited planners are well placed to deal with appeals when the need arises.

Appeals can proceed under three methods: written representations, hearings and inquiries. The majority of appeals proceed under the written representations procedure, with inquiries being the least common, but our planning team is experienced in all three formats.

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A sound understanding of the relevant site constraints and opportunities enables our clients to make fully informed decisions when negotiating on a land deal or considering the future of a site, and is often one of the most important stages of the development process. Our RTPI accredited planning team prepare planning appraisals to set out both current and future development potential, providing realistic and honest advice on the prospects of obtaining planning permission.

For minor developments, we are happy to undertake initial appraisals, often with a site meeting included, free of charge. We shall undertake a desktop assessment to establish that the proposal has merit in planning terms and then agree next stages from there.

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We carry out feasibility studies at an early stage to evaluate the legal, technical and economic viability of a scheme. They’re a useful tool for weighing up the potential success of a plan against possible alternatives, and are usually undertaken for large and/or controversial projects. Feasibility assessments are most commonly undertaken using a co-ordinated approach, with our RTPI accredited planning team working in consultation with our RIBA and CIAT accredited architectural team and our Chartered Landscape Architects to provide outcomes with the most realistic prospect of success through the later stages of the planning process.

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In recent years, the Government has introduced a host of new permitted development rights, many of which require the submission of application to ascertain whether prior approval is required for certain matters. Each of these rights has different limitations and requirements, but our RTPI accredited planning team is able to provide advice in respect of each of these categories, and prepare the necessary applications for submission to the local planning authority.

Examples of cases where this process may be applicable includes, but is not limited to:

the conversion of agricultural buildings to dwellings
the conversion of agricultural buildings to flexible commercial uses
rear and upward extensions to dwellings
change of use from certain commercial uses to a mixed use that includes up to 2 flats
change of use from certain commercial uses to a dwelling

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Environmental Impact Assessments

(EIAs) are an objective study of the potential environmental impact, both positive and negative, of major development proposals. It’s a complex process, required for certain types of development.

Development proposals are first screened to confirm whether or not an Environmental Statement (ES) is required and, if so, the scope of the ES is then confirmed with the local planning authority.

Environmental Statement 

The ES is the detailed analysis of the matters identified in the scoping exercise and brings together the environmental considerations in a single, joined up document. Our RTPI accredited planning team can co-ordinate the drafting of the ES and provide the final document and the associated technical Summary

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Most planning permissions have conditions attached, and their imposition is often a deciding factor for local authorities when granting consent. Whilst many conditions simply require adherence to plans or reports submitted with the application, others require the submission of further details and this requires a further formal application. Conditions can be discharged individually, in groups, or in their entirety as part of a single application.

Occasionally, and with the agreement of the applicant, local planning authorities will impose conditions that have to be discharged before any work commences on site. Failure to comply with these conditions can render any work unlawful and result in enforcement action being taken by the local planning authority.

Our RTPI accredited planning team can prepare and submit applications to discharge conditions, with assistance from our RIBA and CIAT accredited architectural team and/or our Chartered Landscape Architects when required. We can also provide advice on any issues that may arise regarding pre-commencement conditions.

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In some cases, pre-application negotiations with the local planning authority are advisable. We will consider every case carefully, and advise if the pre-application enquiry process is suitable for any given development proposal. Most local planning authorities charge for this service and the outcome is not binding on the authority, so there are good reasons for not pursuing this route in certain cases.

Our RTPI accredited planning team provides advice on when and why this may or may not be a suitable approach when discussing proposals with our clients.

It can be an extremely useful tool for certain types of development and, in the case of larger scale developments, pre-application discussions, often through a Planning Performance Agreement, will smooth the path through the planning application process.

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The opportunity for the development of land often stems from its status in the Development Plan. Therefore, early representation in the drafting of these plans may assist the longer term development potential of a given parcel of land.

In most local authority areas, the Development plan comprises an adopted Local Plan with Neighbourhood Plans providing a more localised view of development proposals, often at Parish level.

Our RTPI accredited planning team can prepare submissions to support proposals for the allocation of land within the Development Plan process at either level.

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