Town and Country Planning

It is inevitable in a country as crowded as Great Britain that building and development (even quite small extensions to your own home) can be the source of a lot of argument and controversy. The system of development control under the Planning Acts is designed to mediate between conflicting interests in land use planning and on all types of development proposals.

For various historical reasons the planning system has become excessively complicated, but Sisman Nichols can help you cut your way through the planning jungle. Our specialist planning law team can advise you whether or not you need planning permission for works you intend to carry out to your property, both domestic and commercial (including any change of use).

We can help you get planning permission if you need it, and if the local planning authority cannot be persuaded to grant planning permission, we can handle an appeal for you, including presenting the case at a public inquiry or hearing, as well as dealing with all the written material in an appeal. We frequently work with other planning professionals, such as architects, planning consultants, highway and traffic engineers and other appropriate specialists where teamwork is required to produce the desired result.

There are all sorts of other planning problems we can help you with. We can advise on the interpretation of and compliance with conditions attached to planning permissions, and where these are unduly onerous (as they all too often are) we can help you to secure their relaxation or removal. We can advise you on threatened enforcement proceedings of all types, including conducting an appeal on your behalf where an enforcement notice has been served.

Our expertise extends to many specialists areas of planning law. Read more about our extensive range of services or  contact us for more information.