Planning in the UK and Ireland

With over fifty years' experience in interpreting local and national planning policies, we have deep expertise throughout the entire planning life-cycle. As one of the largest planning consultancies in the UK and Ireland, we work collaboratively with our clients from our network of regional offices to provide workable solutions to complex issues.

Our planning expertise

Making it easy for clients to navigate the planning process, our end-to-end expertise covers:

Development planning - delivering permissions and approvals for projects across all sectors of development.

Strategic planning - placing our client's future projects in the development plan for an area or region to be delivered during the next 10,15 or 20 years.

Our planning expertise is supported by our in-house environmental, transport and heritage specialists to provide a comprehensive planning and environmental consultancy service.

Development planning

Assessment of prospects of obtaining planning permission; timing and cost.
Non-Statutory and Statutory pre-application Consultation
Lawful and Permitted Development
Planning permissions, Conservation Area Consent and Listed Building Consent
Development Consent Orders and Developments of National Significance
Energy and Waste Planning
Advertisement Consent
Management of the planning application team
Retail Impact Assessment
Environmental Impact Assessments and Statements

Negotiation of planning conditions and section 106 agreements
CIL advice
Discharge of planning conditions, variation of conditions and extensions of time
Planning Appeals – Written Representations, Hearings and Inquiries
Instructions to Counsel
Judicial Review
Hazardous Substances Consent
Compensation claims - Certificates of Appropriate Alternative Development
Compulsory purchase related to “no scheme” development scenarios

Strategic planning

Development potential appraisal
Managing technical assessments
Housing needs assessment
Housing market intelligence
Housing land supply assessment
Housing delivery testing
Employment land need and supply analysis
Sustainability Appraisals

Strategic site promotion
Strategic site searches
Viability assessments
Candidate site submission
Site promotion brochures
Local Plan Hearing Statements
Expert Witness attendance at examinations
Development plan monitoring

Ask an expert

Changes to the planning system in England

On the 6th August 2020 the Government published the long-awaited White Paper on their proposed "radical" changes to the planning system in England.

What do the changes mean for you?

Planning tools

ResiBase

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Virtual public consultation

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Contact your local planning team

Darren Parker

Operational Director - Planning (UK South West and Wales) +44 (0)29 2066 8662 EMAIL

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Cardiff - Callaghan Square | UK

Paul Hill

Senior Director - Planning (Midlands) +44 (0) 121 622 8520 EMAIL

Birmingham | UK

Katherine Putnam

Associate Director - Planning (UK North) +44 161 786 8550 EMAIL

Karen Jones

Operational Director - Planning (London) +44 (0) 20 7280 3300 EMAIL

London - Farringdon Street | UK

Chris LeCointe

Director of Environmental Planning +44 (0) 1235 821 888 EMAIL

Abingdon | UK

Seamus Fay

Director - Planning +44 28 9066 7914 EMAIL

Belfast | UK

Leah Kenny

Director - Planning (Republic of Ireland) +353 (0)1 488 2900 EMAIL

Dublin - West Pier | Ireland

Leading minds

Insights

Amendments to the 'Use Classes Order' explained
- |
- UK
On the 1^st September 2020 amendments to the planning Use Classes Order came into effect throughout England. Jonathan Waugh, Associate Director in our London planning team, explains the changes, opportunities, restrictions and unintended consequences this may bring.

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Planning for the future - Standard Method Mk2 – Has the Government finally cracked it?
- Cameron Austin-Fell
- |
- UK
As part of the review of the Government’s standard method we have been presented with a new formula which, on the face of things, looks to be a vast improvement on its older brother from the 2018 Framework. England now actually has a national housing target which could deliver on the aims of 300,000 homes a year – however the success will be very much determined by how issues such as cross-boundary need and the Green Belt are dealt with. The method isn’t without its flaws and, as explored by Cameron Austin-Fell below, there are some refinements which would greatly benefit a fair and balanced plan for growth.

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Planning for a ‘Beautiful and Sustainable’ future
- Angela Schembri
- |
- UK
On the 6^th August 2020, the Government issued its long-awaited White Paper for consultation on its planned future reforms of the planning system; the aim being to streamline and modernise the planning process, bring a new focus to design and sustainability, improve the system of developer contributions to infrastructure and ensure more land is available for development where it is needed. In this article I will concentrate on the third out of five proposals for reform - to bring a new focus on design and sustainability.

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