Latest News from Atlas Planning Group

Here at Atlas Planning Group we manage a range of projects, residential, commercial, retail and recreational. This week we are delighted to have achieved planning permission for two new tennis courts and associated flood lighting at a well-known and loved tennis club in the heart of Salisbury!

Negative pre-application advice can be disheartening and as can be seen from our earlier blog posts, it’s something clients come to us with all too often. Unfortunately, this can be a product of over worked Planning Teams at your Council not spending sufficient time looking at your proposal to give it proper consideration. However, it’s rarely the end of the road. Sometimes proposals just need simple tweaks to bring them in accordance with Policy, and others your proposal may be perfectly acceptable but is lacking robust Supporting Statements which highlight the benefits and lack of impacts it will bring.

We are pleased to announce that we have achieved outline planning permission for six new flats in Salisbury which will transform this redundant employment site in the centre of the city.

We are delighted to have achieved planning permission for the demolition of the redundant nursing home in Wembley and the erection of a 3 storey apartment building containing 9 new homes.

Planning conditions are attached to planning permissions for a variety of reasons and can have a multitude of effects, but a common and potentially tricky example is the restrictive occupancy condition.

These conditions are applied routinely when planning consent is issued for tourist accommodation, with Local Planning Authorities seeking to ensure that the accommodation remains in an active tourism use. In many cases, this is because tourist facilities are allowed in locations where other uses (including residential development) would normally be prohibited by local planning policies.

When submitting a planning application for a new development, the planning history of the site can be a very important material consideration, particularly where there is a fall-back position provided by permitted development rights.

Negative pre-application advice is always disheartening, but sometimes a scheme is in fact acceptable when robustly argued.

Whilst it was a disappointing ending to yesterday’s World Cup semi-final, there was some good news at an untimely South Oxfordshire Planning Committee, where Councillors unanimously approved a three-bedroom dwelling near Henley on Thames.

Whilst everyone hopes for a smooth ride when they submit a planning application, decisions can sometimes be controversial. Even the simplest of schemes may raise a few eyebrows or cause concerns, and controversy is almost certainly heightened due to the openness of the planning system, which invites public opinion.

Nevertheless, decision making should be based on an informed judgement, which balances competing interests against local and national planning policy. Therefore, to ensure that decision making is fair, contentious proposals, whether big or small, are frequently decided at Planning Committee.

This week we have gained planning permission for a local community centre, comprising a nursey, out of school club and children’s play centre, with café and shop in Warminster.