Working through viability issues and negotiation on section 106 contributions to secure outline permission for 125 new homes.

We are delighted to have secured outline planning permission for 125 extra homes on the edge of Faringdon, Vale of White Horse District by appeal last week on behalf of our long-standing clients, Welbeck Strategic Land.

The Appeal decision has generated comment in the Planning press, primarily due to the viability issue. However, there are other areas of note for our clients to consider for their own development interests.

The Appeal site formed part of an allocation in the Local Plan for “around 200’” dwellings. 200 dwellings had already been provided on the northern half of the allocation. From the very outset, we secured the support of the Case Officer that the use of the term “around” did not preclude additional dwellings coming forward.

This principle was very important in the determination of the application. It highlights that there may be opportunities within allocations to increase levels of development, depending on the terminology used on the number of dwellings.

Prior to the Appeal process, the application was subject to 18 months of detailed, careful negotiation with the Case Officer and her advisers on viability matters. With an agreement secured on viability, the Application was presented to Planning Committee with a recommendation that planning permission should be granted.

Despite the Case Officer’s best efforts the Planning Committee disagreed with her recommendation and refused the application for, in their mind, failure to deliver a sufficient section 106 package of contributions.

The appeal decision is interesting in that the Inspector decided that not all of the Councils’ leisure contributions should be upheld, despite them being agreed at the time of the Planning Committee.

This shows the value of negotiation and evidencing the value of contributions and we are pleased that the Inspector could see the reasonableness of the situation.

We are very happy to secure the Appeal and be part of a great team led by Dankolinsky QC, working alongside Will Seamer of Montagu Evans, John Baird of Osborne Clarke and Anthony Hooper of Wakemans.

McLoughlin Planning were instructed by the National Trust, to prepare and submit a Planning Application for a trail across the Wimpole Estate.

McLoughlin Planning were instructed by the National Trust, working with Sport England, to prepare and submit a Planning Application for a multi-use trail across the Wimpole Estate.

This was a complex application because of the needs of the many invested parties involved. There was the requirement to ensure it would successfully fulfil it’s intention to provide greater access to the Wimpole Estate for disabled people, whilst being sympathetic to the landscape and visual impact of the trail and the potential for conflicts between users of the trail and horse riders using existing bridleways.

The Wimpole Estate, near Cambridge, attracts 320,000 visitors per year and is renowned for its scenic beauty. The National Trust is working on a programme to update the Estate to enable it to flourish with the increased visitor demands. McLoughlin Planning were delighted to play their part in this programme.

We worked collaboratively with Quattro Design Architects to guide the project through a complex planning process.

Located at the foot of the Malverns in the AONB, the village of Colwall was educating its children in portacabins after its century-old primary school was damaged beyond repair in floods. The environment was not good for learning and it was costly to the council.

After complications involving competing requirements between the neighbourhood plan design guide and the council’s desired approach, we worked collaboratively with Quattro Design Architects to guide the project through a complex planning process.

We carried out a thorough round of community consultation to ensure local buy-in, resolving problems around the site and the proposed look and feel of the building. This helped us take the application through to successful determination, giving the village a school that it badly needed with a design that was sensitive to the local area.

This was an ultimate grand design to match even the most ambitious dream home project. Working with architect, Richard Parr, we were involved from start to finish of this project nestled in a 150-acre farm in the spectacular Oxfordshire countryside.

The existing Cotswolds farmhouse cottage needed significant upscaling to meet our client’s needs for more space alongside first rate equestrian facilities. The sensitivity of the site, which lies near Chipping Norton, meant we were required to work hard with the project team and planning authority to meet the needs of our family client by making the case for an innovative development.

The result is a bespoke solution to delivering a beautiful 20,000 sq ft home marrying modern construction and traditional craftsmanship.

McLoughlin Planning has been the Planning Consultant for Gloucestershire Airport for several years. As part of this, it has been involved in securing the necessary Consent for Skyborne’s operations allowing them to establish a Commercial Flight Training School at Gloucestershire Airport to meet the global demand for new Commercial Pilots.

The challenges faced by this project were:

• It was necessary to demonstrate that the use of a hangar as a Flight Training School fell within the definition of aviation-related development in the Town & Country Planning General Permitted Development (Order 2015).
• The Flight Training School was to be supported by an accommodation block for students.

The site is situated within the Green Belt where there are stringent planning controls on new development. As part of the company’s activities working on behalf of the Airport in terms of looking after its wider property portfolio, we were able to engineer a suitably positively planning policy context to allow Skyborne’s proposals to come forward as part of non-operational but aviation-related development.

McLoughlin Planning was instructed by the Bathurst Estate to secure planning and listed building consent for the conversion of a complex of Barns.

McLoughlin Planning was instructed by the Bathurst Estate to secure planning and listed building consent for the conversion of a complex of Barns at Tarlton Farm to residential use, as part of a wider Estate strategy to rationalise its property portfolio and deliver best value from the careful disposal of selected assets.

We worked closely with Yiangou Architects to obtain a detailed understanding of the constraints the barn complex presented and what the opportunities were for making the best positive re-use of the buildings. Owing to its listed status, some imaginative design solutions were proposed, involving glazed extensions to allow narrow parts of the building to become living spaces. In addition, we negotiated with Officers to make the case for the removal of unsympathetic modern agricultural buildings in return for more flexible thinking towards the extent of domestic curtilage.

Planning and Listed Building consent were secured under delegated authority in 2017.

McLoughlin Planning are delighted to have secured planning permission for change of use from agricultural building to a farm shop for Todenham Manor Farm Shop.

Points of note from this application are the farm shop is to be ancillary to the main business on the premises, there cannot be separate A1 premises and the requirement for secure cycle parking to ensure adequate cycle facilities are provided to meet the requirement for sustainable development, in accordance with Cotswold District Local Plan Policy INF3.

This application poses interesting options to other farmers in Cotswold District, who may be looking for a means of diversifying and having a ready outlet for sales of their own produce.

A tight timescale, a green belt site and important commercial drivers made this project as unusual as it was interesting.

A tight timescale, a green belt site and important commercial drivers made this project as unusual as it was interesting. Triumph needed to relocate and had been searching for a new factory site for two years before it was offered land at Staverton.

We took the project from its earliest moments to an approved application at the first attempt in only six months – all in the prism of a General Election campaign. An adjacent site had already been turned down, so work with the local planning authority, LEP and an MP was vital to securing permission on the grounds of very special circumstances.

The result was a 2,000 sq m high-tech manufacturing facility which brought 200 skilled jobs to the UK from China to support an international business to export its products around the world.

Our history of working with the rural community and farmers means we can play the important role of a trusted personal advisor.

We take pride in our knowledge of the rural market and an ability to immerse ourselves in the projects of our clients. Our history of working with the rural community and farmers means we can play the important role of a trusted personal advisor.

Nowhere was this more the case than at Upcote Farm, where our client wanted to retain the family property by diversifying from sheep farming into a wedding venue on a 250-acre site.

We navigated a challenging brief which included historic farm buildings that were inappropriate for conversion. We also developed a compelling case, arguing for conversion of a modern structure into the main venue, veering away from the accepted wisdom at that time and using innovative responses to the planning challenge.

The result was a stunning conversion of multiple agricultural buildings which benefit not just the family, but the wider local economy by creating jobs in the service sector.

Working on behalf of EG Carter and Gloucestershire County Council, McLoughlin Planning was part of a team that successfully delivered planning permission for the replacement school building at Warden Hill Primary School in Cheltenham.

Warden Hill Primary School is a two form entry primary school (420 pupils) located in Durham Close, Warden Hill, Cheltenham. The school is rated “Outstanding” by Ofsted and there had been consideration to expand the school to three form entry. The birth data, alongside existing primary provision in the area showed that the expansion was not required. However, the condition of the school buildings was reviewed and it became clear that they were of significant concern. Detailed investigation showed that an extensive maintenance programme would not be an efficient use of resources and it would be better to replace the school buildings.

In November 2020 Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet approved additional funding to replace the existing school buildings.

Warden Hill School’s site is large enough that the new school building can be built, whilst the old school building is still in daily use by staff and pupils. Once the new building is complete, the old school building will be demolished.

McLoughlin Planning was able to demonstrate the planning policy case as to why this development should go ahead, despite the controversial use of playing fields for development. It was demonstrated that using the playing fields for the new school building was necessary and that it allowed the space currently occupied by the old school building to be re-used after it’s demolition as an improved play space for pupils.

There are specific conditions that have to be met to allow such development because of the value we all place on open spaces for our children. This includes Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, that local authorities are required to apply for the consent of the Secretary of State for Education to dispose of, or change the use of, land used for maintained schools and academies and following the guidance from Sport England.

The school has been developed to deliver an exemplar 21^st
century learning space that has been designed to be the most environmentally friendly low carbon primary school in the country. To enable this, it will have high building fabric efficiency, a low carbon heat source using an air source heat pump, on-site electricity generation through PV array, sustainable urban drainage systems and a “Pocket” forest.

Externally, there will be nature areas, playing pitches, daily mile and pump track and external amphitheatre seating for the pupils to enjoy.

We are delighted that ground was broken in November 2021 and that we were able to assist in this exciting project that reflects our continuing involvement with the County Council in the provision of new schools and school buildings.

Permission secured for variation of a restrictive retail condition, using the new Class E (of the Use Classes Order).

Historically, retail (Use Class A) development was heavily regulated in terms of where it could be sited, relative to the City Centre and associated district centres.

Outside of such locations, planning conditions have been frequently imposed to control the sale of goods from such locations, so that they don’t compete with established City and District Centres.

Recent Use Class Order changes and the introduction of Class E has created significant opportunities for retail development to be provided in locations unrestrained by retail planning policy.

This all sounds great except it leaves commercial landlords holding retail property in a difficult position. Many are limited by legacy conditions from a different time in planning which reduces the attractiveness of their properties, especially when faced with the freedom offered by Class E.

We have been successful in helping one such landlord out.

McLoughlin Planning has secured planning permission for the variation of a retail condition on a 2000 sq.ft. retail unit on the edge of the City Centre.

The unit benefitted from planning permission for retail uses, although with a restrictive policy that determined what goods could be sold from the premises. It expressly prevented the sale of food from the unit. This condition still applies despite the recent changes to the Use Classes Order.

In securing a variation of the retail condition to allow for food sales, we reviewed the availability of existing retail and non-retail floorspace in the City to prove that there was no other available locations as well as establishing a reasoned case that Class E allowed for development anywhere in the City.

This allowed a vacant unit to be brought back into a positive retail use. It will re-open as a small foodstore, making best use of an existing edge of centre site, promoting economic activity and avoiding a vacant retail unit becoming a problem.