Town Planning

Our consultants offer specialist planning advice across a huge range of development projects, from poultry buildings to hospitals and from leisure planning to whole new communities. We work with housebuilders large and small, with farmers and landed estates, with renewable energy suppliers and with national infrastructure providers. We’re well-versed in every clause of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. Plus, of course, we help private individuals take their land and homes through the planning process.

Planning applications are a big part of what we do. However, not all development requires planning permission. If you are looking to put up a farm building or lay down an access track, you may find prior notification a more cost-effective option. If you are planning a barn conversion, you may be able to do this as a Class Q conversion. If you would like to extend a property or change its use, you may be able to do this without making any kind of application – our planning application advice covers many kinds of permitted development. Our consultants can advise you on the most suitable procedure and can handle all the requirements of your chosen route, from pre-planning advice to discharge of conditions.

If you have a good-sized parcel of land and an eye to the future, it may be worth trying to get this land allocated for development in the next version of your Council’s local plan. We can put your site forward for consideration and can lead it through the allocation process (local plans typically take several years to prepare). When the time comes, we can work with our architects and engineers to draw up a concept layout or embark on a master planning exercise.

If you just want somebody to submit an application in your name, you can take your pick of any number of town planning consultants. What puts us ahead of the rest is that we understand the value of your land and we work to maximise that value. We have a large team of chartered surveyors and business advisors who can give you a sneak peek of the end value of your project and can even let you know how to finance it.

Whether you’re interested in urban planning, rural planning or leisure planning, one thing we’ll always do is give you honest advice. If you aren’t sure what to do with your property, we’ll explain what’s most likely to work. If we don’t think you have a chance of getting planning permission, we’ll let you know why. If we do think you have a chance, we’ll be honest about the cost and the timeframe. We can manage as much or as little of the town planning process as you like. As planners, we sit at the heart of a network of technical specialists and are well-placed to act as project coordinators. If you’d like us to appoint and oversee other specialist consultants, we can gladly do this.

Please take a look at the links below to see what we do in more detail, plus some interesting project examples and the answers to some frequently asked questions.