Planning

Our specialist services

We undertake high-value, complex work for clients from the following sectors:

House builders and development consortia

We draft and advise on complex unilateral undertakings and planning agreements. We advise on planning appeals, public inquiries, judicial review and breaches of planning/enforcement issues. We regularly defend TVG applications and litigate in relation to contaminated land.

Social housing and the public sector

We act for 40+ housing associations, providing planning advice on their affordable housing and mixed-use schemes, and on judicial reviews and appeals. We also provide “overspill” capacity for local authority in-house planning teams, processing planning applications, including applications to register, divert and stop-up public rights of way. We provide strategic advice to public authorities on their Compulsory Purchase Powers and undertake work to exercise such powers where necessary. We are instructed for much for this work via our appointment to the Welsh Government Commercial Deliver Framework

We are also appointed to a four-year Crown Commercial Service Framework: RM6240 Public Sector Legal Services until 2026. Under Lot 2a ‘General Service Provision – England and Wales’, we can be called-off to deliver planning law advice, among other specialisms, to the wider public sector in England and Wales.

We were appointed due to our expertise in:

• planning strategy;
• development projects and schemes;
• applications for development,
• construction and change of use;
• compulsory purchase orders and s106 agreements;
• planning/development inquiries and appeals.

We are also appointed to provide planning law advice, among other specialisms, to Pobl until 2025/6 on a sole supplier basis.

Renewable energy

We occupy a leading position in the renewable energies market in Wales, advising on the regulatory regime including planning, commercial and environmental issues for wind farms, solar panel projects (including solar parks), and biomass and energy from waste schemes.

Litigation

We advise public sector and developer clients on planning appeals, public inquiries, judicial review and breaches of planning and enforcement issues.

We have a team dedicated to litigation over environmental and planning issues arising from public infrastructure works and have established ourselves at the forefront of this niche area.

CPO

We have dealt with numerous compulsory purchase order matters including the highly contentious proposed CPO for the contentious M4 relief road.

How we act for our clients

We consider ourselves as an extension of your own team. We will happily act as a sounding board, having a free-of-charge initial chat about a new matter to give you a steer on your options, without it needing to lead to an instruction.

For developers: We have a dedicated acquisition team that will drive your transactions proactively, working closely with your land and technical teams to understand your specific requirements in relation to each development and ensuring that your interests are protected throughout. Our services would include:

• one key point of contact for each acquisition, managing internal teams to deliver a seamless service
• thorough due diligence including review of the legal title, searches, planning documentation, standard and additional enquiries; reporting to you on any pertinent matters as and when they arise
• site visit to understand the context of each proposed development and any technical constraints
• working closely with your technical team and consultants to ensure that the requirements of the scheme are met and that the contract documentation is appropriate for your ultimate development proposals
• liaising with our colleagues in construction in relation to the acceptability of warranties and letters of reliance from consultants, as well as our property dispute colleagues in relation to any potential issues arising from our due diligence exercise e.g. TVG, unauthorised access, adverse possession, occupiers etc.
• providing a detailed and comprehensive report on title, documentation and due diligence for each site
• regular meetings with your team to update on progress, clarify instructions, provide commercial advice on issues arising and present our final legal report
• ongoing support throughout the development including negotiation of infrastructure agreements, transfers of land pursuant to Section 106 requirements and the disposal of land for affordable housing. We also act for a lot of registered providers, so understand their requirements.