The site
A brownfield farmstead site in rural Essex, where the owner proposed redevelopment to provide five additional dwellings.
The brief
Residential development on a rural site lives or dies on planning strategy. The owner needed the case made properly: the site’s planning history understood, the proposal tested against policy before money was spent on a formal application, the design argued in the council’s own terms, and the inevitable local objections met with evidence rather than hope.
What we did
- Pre-application adviceSought from the local planning authority, shaping the scheme, and appended to the submission so the council could see its own advice reflected back.
- Policy by policyThe proposal tested against the authority’s saved local plan policies, so every element answered a policy rather than an opinion.
- Statement authoredThe planning, design and access statement: site, planning history, proposals and design justification.
- Drawings in houseSite, block and floor plans produced by the same practice, so statement and drawings argued the same case.
- Objections engagedLogged and addressed as part of managing the application, not left unanswered.
The legislation
Planning applications are made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires them to be decided in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise, with the National Planning Policy Framework a material consideration. That is why the case has to be argued policy by policy. The statement and drawings were prepared in line with the RICS guidance note Design and specification.
Every element of the case answered a policy rather than an opinion.
The outcome
A complete, professionally argued planning application for five dwellings on a brownfield site. Planning permission was granted. Behind the planning folder on this instruction sit building regulations, tender and contract administration files, because planning was the first stage of a service that carried on to delivery.
