Land and Development
Thornes have for many years been involved with advising clients with regard to property and land and making the best use of property assets.
We are further able to advise with regard to both planning applications and building regulations and guide clients through the often complicated planning procedures required to obtain relevant consent and planning overview.
England is one of the most crowded countries in the world with over 90% of our population living in urban areas to cover just 8% of the land area which makes how we plan for and make decisions about the future of our cities, towns and countryside extremely important.
Good planning contributes to urban and more general regeneration helps to ensure that people have decent affordable homes in well designed, accessible environments safe guarding our countryside and with the aim of creating sustainable communities.
The Government stated policy is to make the system simpler, faster and more accessible and in this case Thornes can advise with regard to the new sustainable planning policies and how these relate to the new Spatial Strategy planning system. At the present time, 2006, the system is plan lead and these plans set out where houses and buildings can be built.
The DCLG sets out the national planning policy with draft plans prepared by local authorities. Most new buildings or changes to existing buildings in the local environment need planning permission from the local authority. Thornes can advise you about making and pursuing planning applications, generally with regard to obtaining planning permission, and also we can help proceeding matters to appeal should this be necessary.
We can also advise you about social housing requirements and other costs which would be associated with obtaining planning consent. This may include environmental assessments and contributions towards other community matters usually embodied in legal agreements, referred to as Section 106 agreements.
Should you therefore require planning advice about small conversions to existing buildings or obtaining consent on larger areas of land or buildings, we would be pleased to discuss matters with you and guide you through the process to take best advantage of the opportunities available. This advice extends from outline to providing detailed plans, site surveys or other advice which may be required to achieve the desired goal.