We offer the following services:

Planning advice & feasibility studies.

It is a sad fact that free planning advice is becoming a thing of the past and most Council's now charge for informal planning advice relating to new dwellings or proposals of a commercial nature. In fcat, Local Planning Authorities often now charge significant fees for pre-application services and meetings and council advice services often takes several weeks before a meeting or response is given and the advice is always provided at officer level only so is not binding upon the Council. It is offered entirely without prejudice to the formal position of the Local Planning Authority. Understandably, councils tend to take a very cautious approach in offering such advice and, all too often, such advice deters people at the outset from pursuing a development proposal even though there may in fact be a reasonable prospect of success with an application or by appeal. 

We offer a free initial telephone consultations and can provide comprehensive planning advice with an 'initial consultation' service with a fixed fee of just £240 plus travel expenses. This service covers an initial investigation, a site meeting and, where appropriate, a written response or report. This fee is fixed and applies irrespective of how long the initial meeting/consultation and background investigations take.   

Preparation and submission of planning applications.

We can prepare any type of application for planning permission, applications for listed building consent, applications for conservation area consent, applications for certificates of lawful development, applications for advertisement consent or any other type of planning application.  

Preparation of plans, drawings and professional planning statements.

We have the skills and ability 'in house' to provide drawings, planning statements, design and access statements, heritage statements and similar documents.  We can provide expert assistance and advice with regard to conservation matters and proposals affecting listed buildings. 

Planning appeals.

We can can prepare and submit planning appeals on your behalf, advise you upon the best format of the appeal and, if necessary, represent you at an appeal 'Informal Hearing' or as an expert witness at a 'Public Inquiry'.  We have an excellent track record with regard to appeal success.

Protection against planning enforcement action.

We can advise you on what to do if your property becomes the subject of planning enforcement action such as an enforcement notice, breach of condition notice or a planning contravention notice. We can investigate your defence options and, where appropriate, submit an appeal on your behalf or negotiate an alternative solution with the Local Planning Authority. (NB - there is no right of appeal against a breach of conditions notice).

Objections or other representations to planning applications

If you wish to either support or strongly object to a planning appeal or planning application, then we can draft and submit a professional representation on your behalf to maximise the impact of your comments.

Please note - we will not submit an objection or other representation on your behalf if we deem that it would be prejudicial to the interest of an existing or previous client of ours.