During October, the government made a number of announcements alongside the new Housing and Planning Bill – all aiming to achieve the government’s ambition of creating one million homes by 2020. Some of the measures being put in place to achieve this goal will create very interesting opportunities for developers! From temporary to permanent The…
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The process of making planning applications, and appealing against unfavourable decisions can be both time-consuming and costly. So, anything that can make the whole procedure easier and quicker is to be embraced. The Wheatcroft Principle is one such nugget of wisdom! At Apex Planning Consultants, we work hard to try to get applications through first…
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Changes to permitted development rights were made last summer by the coalition government, in a bid to boost new housing stock. These allowed developers to secure the change of use from office to residential. These rights currently must have Prior Approval from councils – and this is set to run until the end of May…
Read MoreLocal planning is high on the agenda at the moment, as the Government has told councils that they have to have produced their Local plans by early 2017. Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has said that local authorities have had more than 10 years to produce plans, and that while 82 per cent of them have,…
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Rural development is a hot topic – and one of our recent projects involved planning permission for a new building in Warrington, a hamlet situated to the North of Olney. The plan was to add a new building to an existing farm complex, currently comprising the commercial re-use of former agricultural buildings. These uses include…
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Back in May, the Queen’s speech included a promise by the Conservatives to focus on brownfield development – that is building on previously developed sites. This is to be done using Local Development Orders (LDOs), which basically give blanket planning permission as long as the developer adheres to specific conditions. The aim of this is…
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Sometimes planning issues can get in the way of trying to run a business, so it’s always good when we can help a local company move forward with its expansion. This month we have seen the culmination of a lengthy process, beginning in February 2012, when a business in Marsh Gibbon, Bucks, finally gained planning…
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Many thanks to Urban Self Build for writing this guest blog for us this month. USB Ltd is headed up by two qualified housing development and design professionals with over 40 years of award winning experience between them. You’ll find contact details for USB Ltd at the bottom of this post. Who hasn’t thought about building…
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This past month we have helped a longstanding client with a complaint that led to an investigation by Council enforcement officers, and assisted a local business in getting the planning permission required to expand their operation. We also unravel what the latest Government planning update actually means. Read on to find out more… Milton Keynes…
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New Hope for Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire No two days are the same in the world of planning, and we were particularly pleased when Apex Planning Consultants’ owner, Paul Smith, was asked to make a presentation to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Paul’s presentation included: the ability to change the use of offices to…
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