Planning Law Solicitors

Individuals/ residents’ groups/ heritage bodies regularly instruct Harrison Grant to assist them in the legal issues that arise on planning and planning enforcement matters.

There may be a planning application for a development which could harm your local environment and/or is controversial, for example: fracking; housing on a green field site; or a tall building which will adversely affect a listed building/conservation area/scheduled ancient monument; or a development that will interfere with amenity of neighbours; or adversely affect a business use; or involve the demolition of buildings of merit; or development in a world heritage site or its buffer zone; or a wind turbine/solar farm in an inappropriate area; or a waste incinerator; or will have impacts on wildlife and natural habitats such as road building; or felling of trees; or erection of pylons in a much loved landscape.

Harrison Grant specialise in claimant planning work and can assist on how best to make objections and obtain a refusal of planning permission by the planning officer under delegated authority; or the planning committee if the matter is to be dealt with by them; and how to deal with the planning application process in general, including environmental impact assessment and consultation procedures.

It may be appropriate to ask the Secretary of State to call in the planning application for his or her own determination and we can help with this process.  Indeed, one of our clients, SAVE Britain's Heritage, recently won its case in the Court of Appeal that the Secretary of State should give reasons if they refuse to call in the planning application for their own determination. 

Harrison Grant will advise on the appeal procedure should the developer appeal to the Secretary of State in the event that planning permission is refused; including the advantages and disadvantages of the appeal procedure of written representations, hearing and inquiry, including how to register as a Rule 6 party and to ask the Secretary of State to recover the appeal for his or her own determination. 

Harrison Grant can assist with representation at the hearing or inquiry or the preparation of written representations and the instruction of experts.

If a developer proceeds with unlawful development, Harrison Grant can advise on enforcement proceedings.

If planning permission is granted, we can provide advice on the developer’s application to discharge conditions attached to the planning permission.

Importantly, a grant of planning permission can be challenged by objectors by issuing judicial review proceedings in the case of a planning permission granted by a local planning authority; or a statutory review where planning permission has been granted by the Secretary of State or his/her inspector – see the pages on judicial review/statutory review including for the strict time limits for commencing these proceedings.

Case Studies

Our client SAVE Britain's Heritage established in the Court of Appeal in October 2018 that the Secretary of State is obliged to give reasons for refusing a call in request. 

We are acting for local authorities and Greenpeace in the judicial review challenge to the expansion of Heathrow by way of the Airports National Policy Statement.

A developer who erected a house without planning permission and which badly affected the amenity of our client's neighbouring property, has now had its enforcement appeal refused and will have to demolish the house. 

We are currently representing a well known Hackney company whose business will be affected by a planning application where there was failure to consult the company about an amended planning application and failure to provide relevant correspondence so that they were unable to put in proper objections.  Following a successful judicial review quashing the original planning application, consultation is now taking place on revised proposals. 

We have just finished acting for a group of residents who successfully objected to a wind turbine in the South Hams Area of Outstanding Beauty.  The group became Rule 6 parties at the inquiry following the recovery by the Secretary of State of the appeal for non determination and the Secretary of State accepted the Inspector’s recommendation that planning permission should be refused.

We are acting for a group of residents in Cornwall who are objecting to a planning application for a large scale housing development near St Austell.

We have recently advised SAVE Britain’s Heritage on attempts to prevent the demolition of heritage assets in the buffer zone of Liverpool’s world heritage site; and in relation to demolition of the Cosalt Buildings by Associated British Ports close to the conservation area known as ‘The Kasbah’ in Grimsby Docks.

We have provided planning advice to the Skyline Campaign concerned about tall buildings in London.

We have advised the owner of a well-known London Pub and Music Venue in a planning inquiry in relation to their objections to residential development next to the Pub that was likely to result in complaints about noise from the Pub and a termination of their music licence. Following the successful quashing of the planning permission for housing issued by the Secretary of State's inspector, planning permission was subsequently refused for the housing and the threat to the Pub has been avoided. 

We succeeded in obtaining an acceptable offer of alternative housing for a client whose home was under threat of demolition as a result of planning redevelopment by a local authority.