McLoughlin Planning has secured planning permission for a new rural exceptional farmstead home in Sussex.

Our clients own a parcel of land in Sussex, isolated in the idyllic Sussex countryside. Whilst planning permission would not normally be achievable for a new home in such a location, paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework sets out limited circumstances where new homes are permitted in isolated locations.

Point (e) allows for new homes where the design is of exceptional quality, reflecting the highest standards in architecture, raising the standards of design more generally in rural areas and significantly enhancing the immediate setting. To offer a brief history of the intention of Paragraph 84(e), it is widely accepted that Paragraph 84 is a modern continuation of what was originally referred to as “Gummer’s Law”, a means of protecting the long-standing tradition of building large British Country Houses. Therefore, Paragraph 84 sets out a series of scrupulous tests to demonstrate the proposal embodies this tradition.

Because of this high threshold, we worked closely with an experienced Architect and project team to develop an initial concept scheme. The vision for this proposal was to create an authentic country home, which is intimately connected to its place, improving the immediate habitat. Using the client’s and Architects’ extensive knowledge of renewable energy technology, the home aspired to be Net-Zero Carbon and install various technologies. The result was a home which visually resembled a typical Sussex Farmstead at a distance, but when approached, the building’s form, detail and sculptural quality give a clear indication of its contemporary design, successfully blending traditional building methods and materials with modernity.

With the support of ecologists and landscape consultants, a landscaping scheme was also prepared which would see the strengthening of a small woodland with further tree planting, wildflower meadows and work to an adjoining watercourse to support significant biodiversity net gain and enhancements to the surrounding character of the area.

McLoughlin Planning assisted in managing the planning strategy and the application through initial pre-application engagement with the Mid-Sussex District Council and through Design Review Panel presentations before developing and undertaking the submission of the planning application.

During the planning application process, McLoughlin Planning engaged with the Case Officer to assist in responding to statutory consultees, reviewing, and agreeing to relevant planning conditions and assisting in the preparation of an S106 agreement. Working proactively and maintaining regular contact with the case officer, we were able to secure planning permission under delegated powers.

We are overjoyed that this new multi-generational and exceptionally designed home has secured planning permission and look forward to seeing the development progress over the coming years to provide a new landmark in Mid-Sussex.

If you would like more information on the above, our Director, Chris Moore, is more than happy to help answer any questions you have in regard to new home builds in a rural setting:

Chris Moore

chris.moore@mplanning.co.uk

01242895008

According to Historic England, there are approximately 500,000 listed buildings on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE), varying from Grade I, II, II* listed buildings marking their contribution to special architectural and heritage interests and to protect these assets for future generations. Those who own a listed building and intend to undertake repairs, restorations, alterations, or extensions to their property may likely require either planning permission or listed building consent (possibly both!).

The challenge with determining whether you need Listed Building Consent is that often even works which may be considered “simple” may require consent. It is often a fact and degree assessment, considering the level, scale or intensity of the work proposed. If you undertake works to a listed building, where consent is required, it is a criminal offence, and the Council could take Enforcement Action.

This uncertainty can often prove challenging when trying to retrofit and improve the energy efficiency of listed buildings (EPC rating) to provide a more sustainable home or business. For example, installing an EV charging point, replacing, or adding secondary glazing or installing an air source heat pump/solar panel often require Listed Building Consent and/or Planning Permission. As Listed Building Consent applications can take approximately 8 weeks to be determined from validation as well, ensuring you capture all works within your application is important to help avoid delays to your project.

Seeking expert advice can help in determining before work commences whether Planning or Listed Building Consent is required. Working in partnership with experienced heritage consultants and architects, we have helped guide and support owners in securing their retrofit aspirations. Some examples to illustrate our recent experience working with listed buildings include:

• Consent for an EV Charging Point to a Grade II Listed Manor in the Cotswolds with Cotswold District Council.

• Replacement Windows and other Internal/External Alterations and Upgrades on a Grade II listed Hotel adjoining Hyde Park with Westminster City Council.

• Retrospective Listed Building Consent for the installation of Windows, Doors, and Internal Appliances in a Grade II listed home with Cheltenham Borough Council.

• Alterations to Shopfront on a Grade II* listed shop on Cheltenham’s Promenade with Cheltenham Borough Council.

• Replacing Roof Tiles on a High Street Store in Wooten under Edge with Stroud District Council.

• Providing a Planning Appraisal and Advice for the holistic enhancement of a Grade I Listed Manor in the Southwest of England.

If you are considering works to your listed property and are not sure whether you may require planning or listed building consent, then please get in touch with one of our experienced planning consultants for an initial FREE consultation.

T: 01242895008

E: info@mplanning.co.uk

Alternatively, you can book a meeting via the “book an appointment” contact form on our website.

McLoughlin Planning are pleased to have helped secure Permission in Principle for up to 6 residential flats in the London Borough of Lewisham. This is the first Permission in Principle application determined, and approved, by this London Borough.

The landowner approached us to help find opportunities to holistically enhance and expand an existing mixed-use commercial and residential property to provide additional apartments. Through our initial planning research, we found evidence of neighbouring regeneration taking place and upward extensions permitted on other corner plot properties within the Borough offering comfort that such a proposal could be supported. However, because of site specific planning constraints (such as a nearby listed building) and the Council’s lengthy planning validation requirements for a project of this nature, the landowner wanted some reassurances from the Council that in principle the proposed development could be supported before investing in the work required for a full planning application.

Permission in Principle applications (PiPs) are a useful planning tool for landowners seeking to initially secure an “in principle” agreement with a Council on their proposed development. The application type considers only the location, land use and amount of development. PiP’s are limited to up to 9 residential units and therefore are suited for smaller rural development proposals or intensification or smaller brownfield developments in urban areas.

Following submission, as this was the first PiP in the London Borough of Lewisham, McLoughlin Planning worked closely with the Council to help ensure the Permission in Principle application was being determined correctly and to assist with providing additional information and reassurances (where required). Working with a proactive case officer, we are pleased to have successfully provided the landowner with the required comfort for a new sustainable development, and a new local case study on the benefits of Permission in Principle for property owners within the Capital.

📞 If you would like a FREE initial consultation call, then please get in touch!

McLoughlin Planning has had recent success in promoting land for 400 homes in the green belt at Elland in Calderdale Borough. For the past three years, the Local Plan has been at Examination, where we have made the case for the allocation of the site for housing and its release from the green belt. Last week, the Local Plan Inspector confirmed that the site should be allocated for development in her recommendations to the Council.

The history of the Calderdale Local Plan is complex, being one of the last Local Plans to be examined under the 2012 NPPF. These Plans were reliant on Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) to calculate the Local Plan’s overall housing requirements.

At the Regulation 18 stage, we successfully secured the allocation of the site in the Plan as part of the Plan meeting its SHMA housing requirement. Unfortunately, Council Members decided to removed the site from the Regulation 19 version of the Plan as they sought a lower housing target, ignoring the findings of their own SHMA.

Presenting evidence to the Examination, we were able to demonstrate the case that the Regulation 19 version of the Plan did not meet the requirements of the 2021 Framework. The Inspector agreed with our arguments and directed the Council to revert back to the Regulation 18 version of the Plan in terms of providing a higher housing target and re-allocating the site for development.

This success is the result of many years of perseverance, first working with the landowner in 2015 and then subsequently with Avant Homes. As part of our wider work, we have been responsible for assembling and managing a team of consultants to produce a Site Promotion Document, undertake EIA Screening and engaging with the Council on pre-application advice. We are currently advising on detailed layout matters with a view to submitting a planning application later in 2022.

Nathan McLoughlin and  Joe Seymour worked with the team of consultants that has successfully secured full planning permission, at appeal,  for 45 new homes at Gotherington on behalf of Lioncourt Strategic Land Limited.

This Appeal Decision is noteworthy because it led to confirmation that Tewkesbury Borough Council (TBC) cannot demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply; the best estimate of its housing supply is judged to be 3.39 years. This leaves the Council in a difficult position, which originates from its failure (as part of the Joint Core Strategy (JCS)) to undertake the immediate review that it promised in return for the JCS’s adoption over 5 years ago. This is compounded by the fact that the JCS review process is a number of years away from being resolved. So, there is no easy fix without more speculative applications and/or the long-delayed strategic housing sites coming forward.

However, 5-year supply is only one part of the case for a planning proposal, it is essential that there is a well-designed and reasoned scheme, which fits with the principles of development in the NPPF and the Development Plan. Working closely with the wider team Nathan and Joe explored the previous Appeal and the sensitive landscape issues which affected it. A detailed analysis of the state of the community facilities and services in the village was undertaken to demonstrate that contrary to the Council’s position, the development would not lead to social cohesion issues.

The Inspector at this appeal made remarks on TBCs development plan that were significantly damaging to this and any future counter-argument, the council might have,  against developments in Tewkesbury District;  the “most important” policies in the development plan were deemed to be out-of-date by the Inspector and paragraph 11 d(ii) of the Framework was held to apply. In addition, the Inspector judged that Policy SP2’s numerical limits on housing development in service village locations were for making allocations and not determining applications.

In paragraph 158 of the Decision, the inspector states:

“In my view, it is of central importance to keep in mind that housing is occupied by people. Dealing with numbers obscures that. The lack of a sufficient forward pipeline of deliverable housing sites will inevitably mean that the housing needs of many people will not be met.” 

This is why the team at McLoughlin Planning do what they do, we care about creating enough homes for everyone.

Nathan McLoughlin was the lead planning witness, Joe Seymour provided support and great skill in assembling and running the Appeal. The wider team included fellow witnesses Cameron Austin-Fell (RPS), and Mike Davies (Davies Landscape Architecture), overseen by Peter Goatley KC on behalf of Vicky Bilton and Andy Faizey at Lioncourt.

McLoughlin Planning was approached by Unity Land to support its efforts to promote the comprehensive redevelopment of Fairoaks Airport to provide a modern general aviation airport, with a focus on providing facilities for supporting sustainable aviation and the latest EV technology. This was as a direct competitor to other proposals which sought the redevelopment of the site for a new garden village in Surrey Heath.

Situated in the Green Belt, on the outskirts of Working and adjacent to Mclaren HQ, Fairoaks is an important general aviation airport in the south east. Its faciliites are delipidated and in need of urgent upgrading. Unity Land is commited to acquiring and heavily investing into the Airport to make it a modern facility, securing and promoting jobs in high skill positions in the aviation industry.

Working with John Steel QC (a leading aviation specialist) McLoughlin Planning is responsible for the preparation of the planning case for the development, working with the Unity Team (including 5Plus Architects, ARUP and specialist aviation consultants) to provide a conclusive case for the redevelopment of the site and demonstrate the clear economic benefits of development in an area where there is a high demand for commercial floorspace.

This has involved examining how the unique permitted development rights enjoyed by airports can be used to engineer a case for the wider redevelopment of the site and how planning policy at both local and national level, supports the retention of general aviation airports across the country.

The work is currently on-going.

Charlton House, is the global headquarters of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc, a FTSE 100 company and is one of Cheltenham’s largest employers. It has occupied the site since the 1940s.

Charlton House is a complex site, involving a Grade II listed building and has been extended in the latter half of the 20 Century.

Spirax-Sarco were faced with a dilemma, the modern office extension was reaching the end of its operational life, it was poorly configured and ill-suited to modern working practices.

Given the need for change, the company appointed McLoughlin Planning and Roberts Limbrick Architects along with a multi-disciplinary consultant team to advise on options for redevelopment, to provide a modern, highly energy efficient work-space, fit for the 21 Century.

Working in partnership with Roberts Limbrick Architects we took the company through the various options available in terms of demolition and replacement structures. Refurbishment was out of the question. The fundamental challenge was to balance the need for a modern office space against the need to respect the character and setting of Charlton House. This demanded a creative and bold confident approach.

At an early stage of the project, the company sought to embody its environmental commitments into the project and working with the team, decided on a strategy which would deliver the County’s first ever BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) ‘Outstanding’ building, which is a very high bar in terms of measuring its environmental performance. Less than top 1% of new non-domestic buildings in the UK are within the Outstanding category so this is a significant achievement. ‘Outstanding’ building.

The new extension contains open-plan office space, break-out areas, an auditorium, a gym and changing facilities. Securing the renovation of the company’s global headquarters will help to consolidate their position in Cheltenham and will secure existing and attract new high-skilled jobs in the town for years to come.

McLoughlin Planning explained and guided Spirax-Sarco through the planning process, submitting the planning and listed building applications for the redevelopment. We were able to demonstrate that the bold, superior architectural design of the replacement extension clearly outweighed the minor harm that would be caused to the historic fabric of the listed building.

As part of the process, we equally advised the company on concerns raised from local residents which focused on the height of the new five-storey extension and the disturbance that would be caused during the demolition and construction phases of the development. Again, we were able to demonstrate to the Council that the development would not be detrimental to neighbouring residents and the applications were approved by the Council’s Planning Committee only four months after submission.

We are pleased to be part of the impressive team which are helping Gloucester Rugby Club with its new training facilities and Kingsholm Pitch Upgrade works.

Working with The Development Studio https://www.tds.uk/ and the wider team, we have now submitted the applications to the Council and will be moving forward with securing their validation and ultimate determination.

Having assessed the proposals against the development plan, there is a clear planning policy case for the proposals. These policies, along with other associated documents from the Council underline the importance of the Club to the City, not just on match days but also in terms of the wider reputation of the City.

This underlines the importance that major business have in ensuring the economic success of a town or City and why this should be taken seriously in the determination of planning applications.

McLoughlin Planning has secured planning permission to redevelop Ellen Badger hospital, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire to provide a much-needed BREEAM Excellent integrated health and well-being community hub, that includes a medical centre, café, well-being centre, and a community garden. The project is a great example of the NHS pulling together its different functions and services.

Whilst the proposed development replaces an existing medical centre, the development’s edge of settlement location, re-siting, and a significant increase in size (both in floor space and height) to accommodate the additional demand of the local community were key planning and design issues which we needed to assess and overcome.

We worked closely with architects One Creative to ensure the proposed development respected its context and edge of the settlement location to provide a positive example of new development for the community. For example, the existing river to the back of the development site has been incorporated into the scheme as part of a community garden creating a place for nature and tranquillity.

Our understanding of the policy requirements of Stratford District Council, and the undertaking of a meaningful pre-application submission and public consultation allowed us to advise the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust on a planning strategy to ensure that the parameters of the proposed development were policy compliant.

Due to the scale of the development proposed and, for the Trust to retain essential services for the community, we worked with the Council to find an appropriate way through suitably worded planning conditions to break up the development into 2 phases. This avoided the need for two separate planning applications and provide a clear and single reference point for the Trust to ensure compliance with their planning permission.

McLoughlin Planning were appointed by Cameron Homes to assist it in securing reserve matters consent, pursuant to an outline planning permission.

Blockley is a village in the north Cotswolds and the site is sensitive, being subject to a number of environmental designations as well as technical constraints that limit the site layout. Given the sensitivity of the site, it was essential that a bespoke approach was adopted and Cameron Homes were ideally placed to deliver this, supported by Tyack Architects, designing the development.

The proposals were the subject of considerable discussion with the Planning and Conservation Officer at Cotswold District Council and the carefully negotiated approach paid dividends in securing officer support for the development, which balanced up the competing needs in a high quality scheme, reflecting the best of modern architecture in a sensitive environment.