Our Oxfordshire based team of planning consultants offer a full range of professional planning advice to local, regional and national clients.  We can help with:

Planning Applications:
Guiding you through the bureaucratic maze - applications, even for quite small developments, often need backing up with an array of items such as Design and Access Statements, Sustainability Appraisals and infrastructure contributions.  Our service, reinforced by good working relationships with local planning authorities, is designed to achieve success first time and does so in 9 out of every 10 cases.

Development Appraisals:

Before going to the time and trouble of an application we usually recommend an initial appraisal to identify the likelihood of a successful outcome.  The scale of the exercise will, of course, relate to the scale and complexity of the proposal.

Planning Appeals:

We are well known in planning circles for our professional handling of appeal work, whether by means of written representations, at hearings or public inquiry.  Once we have carried out a thorough appraisal of a planning authority's reason for refusal, we advise on the prospects of them being overturned at appeal.

Where a decision to appeal is advised, our 75% success rate is impressive when compared to the current average success rate for all appeals in England and Wales of just 34%.  If an appeal is heard at a public inquiry, we can also provide direct professional access to the advocacy services of the Planning Bar, saving valuable time and expense.

Development Plans:
Our specialists constantly monitor local and regional development plans, which guide planning authorities on Government thinking, so that the earliest possible notice can be given to clients of any intended changes in planning policy.  We also keep abreast of systematic changes in policy at national level, such as the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which introduced, amongst other things, a new system of Local Development Frameworks. These monitoring processes alert our clients to potential new opportunities or the need to take action to protect their interests.

Conservation Areas:
The most attractive historic parts of the cities, towns and villages in the UK have special protection by law.  We regularly advise clients about how best to work within this framework, so that they can achieve what they want with due regard to the special character of the area.

Listed Buildings:
There are some 600,000 buildings listed as being of special architectural and historic interest in England and Wales and they are subject to stringent control.  We specialise in advising how to achieve the best use of listed buildings, whilst also respecting our heritage.

Enforcement:
This is the "teeth" of the planning system and to be, often inadvertently, at the wrong end of an Enforcement Notice can be frightening.  We can advise clients about how to deal with these situations - sometimes by negotiation, sometimes by appeal.