DLBP hosts public consultation event for Rickman's Green Village

DLBP is pleased to announce that on 4 October 2022, we hosted a second public consultation exhibition for Rickman’s Green Village.  The proposal is for a brand-new village in West Sussex, comprising of up to 600 high quality new homes and land for a new school, centred around the farm shop, cafe, retail units, cookery school, glamping and rural enterprise centre proposal for which DLBP recently submitted an application, details of which can be found here.  Rickman’s Green Village will help bridge the widening gap between housing need and the shortfall of the planned supply in Chichester District. 

This exhibition follows the first event held on 12 July 2022 where 96 people attended and were able to give feedback to different aspects of the scheme - further details of the first exhibition can be found here.  

Since then, the team has been working hard to enhance the scheme in response to comments received.  

The second exhibition was an opportunity to meet the local community again, and to showcase our amended plans in response to their feedback.  The further information included detail about the proposed new high frequency bus route from Rickman’s Green Village to Billingshurst, enhanced landscaping and open space, reduced density, and an indicative layout for the first phase of housing, amongst many other things.  75 local residents attended the exhibition - the feedback received is assisting in improving the design of the scheme, ahead of submitting the plans to Chichester Council within the coming months.

DLBP assist in securing permission for four-bedroom home on previously refused site in London Conservation Area

DLBP has assisted in securing full planning permission for the demolition of a bungalow and replacement with a two-storey four-bedroom home on a space restricted backland plot in the Telegraph Hill Conservation Area in the London borough of Lewisham.

After our client’s previous scheme was refused planning permission and dismissed at appeal, we recommended changes to the scheme to our client and their architect, and also formulated our presentation to the Council to demonstrate how the new scheme addresses the issues raised with the previous refusal.

We provided a Planning and Heritage Statement and supported the architect with the application process; attending a meeting with local residents to explain the proposed changes, convey the scheme in a positive light and respond to any concerns they had.

With the planning officer agreeing with the arguments in our Planning and Heritage Statement, the Council's Heritage Officer then supported the scheme, despite objecting to the first one.

We then presented the application to the Council's Planning Committee where it was granted unanimously with no additional conditions, allowing our client to proceed with their conversion and create a new four-bedroom home.

DLBP assists with permission to convert two commercial units into two townhouses in Kensington and Chelsea

We are delighted to announce that we have assisted in securing permission for the change of use of two commercial units to be amalgamated into two townhouses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The site was classified as ‘Class E’, with each property being used commercially on the ground floor with flats on the upper floors.

The borough’s main housing need is for family sized homes, which we argued strongly. If the Council had refused the application, then our client could instead utilise permitted development rights, which allow developers to convert certain property to residential without formal planning permission.

In this case, our client would have converted the two commercial units into flats, creating four flats in total.

Through negotiation with the Council, and the recognised need for family sized homes, permission was approved with minimal conditions, allowing our client to create two beautiful town houses and contribute to the borough’s housing requirements.

DLBP secures permission to convert a family home into two modern apartments in London

DLBP is delighted to announce that we have secured permission for the conversion of a family home into two new apartments in the London Borough of Redbridge. The site falls outside of a designated Metropolitan Centre, which can result in the Council not supporting an application which results in a loss of a family home. However, DLBP previously secured permission for the use of the basement of the property as an apartment, and so we argued that this latest scheme did not constitute the loss of a family home. 

Our case also stressed the importance of the newly adopted London Plan as the proposal met the Small Sites Requirement for Redbridge and assisted in achieving targets in delivering new housing on a site that is within a sustainable location.

The scheme represents a net increase in residential accommodation and is located 200m from an Underground Station with access to the local high street.

The Council agreed with our stance, allowing our client to proceed with their conversion to create two modern apartments.

DLBP secures Green Belt residential development within Hertfordshire Conservation Area

DLBP is delighted to have secured planning permission on behalf of our client for the development of four family-sized homes at a sensitive site in the village of Essendon, Hertfordshire. 

We were first approached to consider the prospects of achieving permission for a range of development scenarios on the site which is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and a conservation area, as well as being adjacent to a grade II listed property.

Working with the architect, we prepared and presented a five-unit scheme to the Council as part of a formal pre-application meeting. Through extensive negotiation and refinement of the proposal, the Council demonstrated support in principle for the scheme. We then organised and led a public consultation event for local residents to view and comment on the proposal, prior to the application being finalised for submission.  

Once submitted, we liaised directly with the Council to address queries relating to matters of heritage and design, ecology and landscaping, and highways. Importantly, we were successful in proposing the loss of greenbelt land, justifying this to be an exception site (as per National Planning Policy Framework paragraph 149) where limited infilling in villages is considered appropriate. We also highlighted the proposal's numerous benefits; including its contribution to local housing supply, support for local services, and the effective and efficient use of land, and how these outweigh any potential harm.

We are very pleased to have assisted our client in securing this fantastic development, and look forward to assisting others in achieving planning permission for new schemes on similar such sites. 

DLBP resolves pedestrian visibility splay matter at Eastleigh care home

DLBP is pleased to have addressed a requirement of Hampshire County Council to provide pedestrian visibility splays to a care home in Eastleigh. We addressed this by securing a non-material amendment to the approved plans for the care home on behalf of our longstanding client, Hamberley Care Homes, one of the UK’s leading providers of elderly care.

DLBP originally secured planning permission, on behalf of Hamberley, in 2020, for the 80-bedroom care home at the former site of Eastleigh Police Station. Discussions were then held with Hampshire County Council to undertake works to the public highway. These discussions resulted in the need for pedestrian visibility splays to the care home access, to allow pedestrians to clearly see traffic approaching from both directions and cross safely.

This requirement necessitated an amendment to the approved boundary of the care home, as well as the repositioning of the wall, fence and hedge.

We justified to Eastleigh Borough Council that the proposed changes were very small in scale and of little material impact to the overall development so that they constituted a non-material amendment, and approval was granted within the required 28 days.

Our well-considered approach to this application and clear reasoning to the Council ensured that this matter was resolved in a timely way, allowing Hamberley to progress the development of this care home without delay.

DLBP secures listed building consent for exterior alterations to three Grade II listed properties in Harley Street, London

DLBP is delighted to announce that we have helped our client secure listed building consent to replace the security cameras on 8, 10 and 12 Harley Street; three Grade II listed properties within a sensitive London Conservation Area. 

Liaising with our client’s architect we identified appropriate locations for the security cameras which would reveal the historic detailing on the listed buildings and remain consistent with other buildings on Harley Street. This was all done whilst positioning the cameras to effectively capture surrounding activities and monitor entries to the medical practice on site.

Due to the sensitive nature of the scheme, both in relation to the area and the properties themselves, we prepared Planning, Heritage and Design and Access Statements to support the application. Assessing the impact of the replacement cameras on the conservation area and the listed buildings, we explained how the proposals would help to ensure the long-term security of the three listed properties and the continued operational use of the medical practice.

The Council agreed with our strong case which we put forward in the application; granting listed building consent which allows our client to proceed with their scheme.

DLBP secures permission for two new radio antennae at the Royal Hospital Chelsea

DLBP is very pleased to have secured planning permission on behalf of the Royal Hospital Chelsea for the installation of two radio antennae within the grounds to support the popular In-Pensioners’ Radio Club.

The In-Pensioners’ Radio Club is one of numerous societies at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, and has been active for approximately 10 years. As well as providing social activities for its many members, the Radio Club also strengthens ties between the Royal Hospital and wider community. The club regularly invites local schools to the grounds to introduce younger people to radio and communicates with other amateur radio groups across the country.

The Radio Club will shortly be relocating from its current location to the Prince Phillip Building, a new activities hub which DLBP previously secured planning permission for. The move necessitated the installation of two new radio antennae in the new location.

We are delighted to have assisted the Royal Hospital Chelsea in securing this permission to benefit both its In-Pensioners and local community, and look forward to seeing the Radio Club continue thriving in its new location.