About

Winning planning permission and appeals since 1989

Land Planning Associates was founded in 1989 with the specific objective of helping clients facing needlessly obstructive planning authorities.

Trevor Dennington, Founder & Principal

Trevor has held degree level qualifications in all aspects of the planning application and planning appeals systems since 1972, including Public Law, and Public Administration in both Local Government and Central Government.

He has specialised in Planning Law since 1973 and, after working for one of the biggest local authorities in East Anglia, was head-hunted by one of the most successful architectural practices and property development companies in Norfolk where he assisted Directors in the preparation and presentation of its first Public Inquiry, winning planning permission for over 100 dwellings after a refusal  by the local council.

Stephen Dennington LL.B. (Hons)

Stephen graduated in Law in 1998 at Northampton University and joined the company in the same year. He also specialises in planning law and practice bringing valuable experience and additional expertise to bear in initial assessments of development potential for clients’ land and buildings and in handling planning appeals.

National operations with expertise to match planning authorities

Operating nationally since 1991, Land Planning Associates has issued planning advice and won planning permission for all kinds of development throughout England and Wales, usually via successful planning appeals, with the occasional project in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In 2001 the Advertising Standards Authority publicly acknowledged that Land Planning Associates could claim to be a match for the expertise of planning authorities when its advertising claims of success were reviewed.

Land Planning Associates – trend setters and law changers

LPA was one of the first planning consultancies to offer No Win–No Fee terms for suitable projects, empowering clients to confidently pursue development potential of their land.

In 1995 the law on reactivating old planning permissions for mineral extraction was changed after LPA ‘resurrected’ planning permissions for four sand and gravel quarries that had first been granted permission up to 40 years earlier when Winston Churchill was still Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Mineral extraction had ceased in the 1960’s and the planning authority had persisted in claiming, contrary to planning law and a longstanding clear legal precedent from the House of Lords, that the permissions had been ‘abandoned’. Land Planning Associates successfully challenged this claim winning lawful development certificates for renewed quarrying to a depth of 28 metres, plus valuable new permissions for post extraction landfilling with inert waste. Bought by our clients for less than £125,000, the sites were sold to a consortium for £2.01million.

Ongoing and successful track record

Planning permission was won on appeal for a building plot in Surrey which was both on Green Belt land and outside any town or village settlement boundary. The successful planning appeal was based on the superior weight of national planning policies where local planning authority policies conflicted with them.

The plot was initially valued at £300,000 with the permission won by Land Planning Associates, but was subsequently revalued at £390,000.

Some of our key successes over the past 29 years

  • Blocks of flats in LEEDS ….. Conversion of a Mission Hall to Flats in STAINES
  • 11-bedroom House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) in WORKSOP ….. 8-bedroom HMO in READING ….. 10-bedroom HMO in DERBY …..10-bedroom HMO in RETFORD, Notts ….. 8-bedroom HMO in LONDON SE18 6HQ (The Royal Borough of Greenwich issued permission immediately after seeing our planning appeal).
  • Residential building plots throughout the country, including GATLEY, Cheshire ….. REDDITCH ….. WEMBLEY, and EAST SHEEN, London ….. CHARD, Somerset ….. CORTON, Suffolk (Refused 6 times and twice on appeal before the owner came to us !) ….. COODEN, Sussex ….. RIDGE, Dorset ….. CHEVINGTON, Suffolk … GLINTON, Peterborough ….. MIDDLETON, Suffolk … KINGSBRIDGE, Devon … Compton Park Road, PLYMOUTH … OLDCOTES, Worksop … WHEATLEY, Doncaster … WORDSLEY, West Midlands … in the Conservation Area at SHEEPWASH, Devon … 3-storey house at SUTTON HILL, Telford, Burghfield Common, READING….Garden plot at BURGHFIELD COMMON. … Building plot at Tabor Road, MAESYCWMMER following initial refusal…. EARDISTON, Worcestershire … BEESTON, Norfolk ….. Telscombe Cliffs, EAST SUSSEX on appeal after previous appeal by others was refused….. Detached dwelling outside the settlement boundary in a Countryside location near THURSTON, Suffolk .
  • Numerous home extensions – including some on the front of dwellings
  • Resurrection of 1954, 1958, and 1965 planning permissions for extraction of over 1,300,000 tonnes of sand & gravel at WETHERDEN via Lawful Development certificates and planning appeals … plus permission for post-extraction LANDFILL, Despite the published cynicism of a national newspaper, the agricultural land was bought for less than £125,000 and was sold with our planning permissions for £2.01 million.
  • Building plot on Green Belt land outside any settlement boundary in Surrey. Valued with our planning permission at £300,000 – subsequently increased to £390,000.
  • Permission on appeal for a 4-bedroomed house on land classed as countryside at Pluckley, KENT, citing support from a legal precedent from the High Court defining the meaning of “isolated” dwellings outside any settlement area and in countryside.
  • Kennels & Cattery in countryside at SILSOE, Bedfordshire … (after rejection of a Planning Appeal submitted by others) PLUS a permanent dwelling on the site
  • 35 acre Cemetery with car park and reception building on agricultural GREEN BELT land at SPRINGHILL, Staffs. (One third of it sold for over £1million.)
  • Extension and conversion of redundant factory to form 64-bedroom Residential Care Home in the countryside at HUNDON, North Yorkshire
  • Fish Farm and Day Fishery at ELMSWELL
  • A fishery and camping site at Lower Road, ONEHOUSE, Suffolk with new bungalow on site
  • Defeat of 5 Enforcement Notices served, and temporary planning permission won for a second recreational fishery at Wash Lane, ONEHOUSE, Suffolk, with camping and caravanning facilities and retention of residential accommodation …. and then later.… Permanent planning permission for retention of the recreational fishery at Wash Lane, ONEHO
  • USE with camping, caravanning, and other associated facilities PLUS use of an on-site dwelling as a normal housing market dwelling.
  • Detached dwelling in WEST FINCHLEY via a planning appeal against refusal by London Borough of BARNET
  • Lawful Development Certificate for two flats created in an agricultural barn at WINGRAVE, Buckinghamshire. (The council withdrew from a Public Inquiry, and agreed to pay our costs on legal advice 4 weeks before the Inquiry was due to start)
  • New dwelling on garden land at OXFORD following demolition of domestic garage on the land. Applications were refused 4 times before the applicant came to us to lodge a successful planning appeal.
  • Replacement of small dwelling with 6-Bedroomed 4-storey House at ICKENHAM, Uxbridge …..Replacement of 108m2 bungalow with a 281m2 house at WOKINGHAM
  • Donkey Sanctuary on Appeal at SAMBOURNE, Warwickshire (in Green Belt and a Special Landscape Area !)
  • Residential conversion of a Wainhouse (cart lodge) at ABBERLEY, Worcestershire. Residential conversion of barns at BRADFIELD ST CLARE SUFFOLK ….another at LOXWOOD, Sussex ;
  • Conversion of Agricultural building at PAKENHAM used for topiary production to open housing market dwelling
  • Residential building plot at NAILSEA, Avon, without paying the £2,500 contribution demanded as a planning contribution towards recreation space
  • Replacement of derelict cottage with new bungalow in the countryside at ISLEHAM
  • TV film studio in open countryside at WALSHAM LE WILLOWS …..
  • Permission on Appeal for the biggest Car Boot Sale in SUFFOLK at WOOLPIT
  • Paintball Games site in the Mid Suffolk council area, in woodland at TOSTOCK
  • Equestrian livery and Arabian Stud Farm in open countryside at CHEVINGTON
  • Arabian Stud Farm with Mobile Home at NEWTON, Lancs ….. and another on Appeal at RAINFORD, Lancashire
  • Agricultural residential accommodation at SOURHALL, Lancs
  • Offices in PLYMOUTH (on appeal) … without paying a £9,000 contribution demanded for a Park & Ride scheme
  • Flats in Staffordshire … without paying £1,995 towards parking/open space provision
  • Industrial development of former nuclear missile base at WALSHAM LEWILLOWS – with over £12,000 appeal costs awarded against the council
  • Planning permission for a ready-mixed concrete processing plant at WILLENHALL, near Wolverhampton; plus a Waste Transfer Station on another part of the same land
  • Permission on Appeal for a Waste Transfer Site at LISSINGTON, Lincolnshire (according to Lincolnshire County Council the first appeal they had ever lost!)
  • Large BASEMENT at semi-detached house at CHESHUNT, Herts
  • Summerhouse in grounds of a Grade II Listed Building AND a Conservation Area in LAMBETH, London SW2
  • Defeat of Enforcement proceedings and planning permission granted for a Snooker and Pool Club in Mile End Road, Tower Hamlets, London E1 4UN
  • Change of use of office to dwelling at WANSTEAD, East London
  • Two-storey side annexe on dwelling at Mottingham, Kent
  • Lawful Development Certificate for use of a garden outbuilding in HENDON NW4 as a self-contained flat AND permission to use the main house on the site as 3 flats.
  • Yurt camping holiday site at BLACKAWTON, Devon, with residential accommodation.
  • Conversion to a dwelling of a studio flat and garage, London Borough of BROMLEY

Beware of imitators

As long ago as 2001 the Advertising Standards Authority publicly acknowledged that Land Planning Associates could claim to be a match for the expertise of planning authorities and our reputation is such that many others use a very similar business name and one would-be competitor not far from Suffolk regularly copies entire paragraphs from our website.

If others claim to match our successes in winning valuable planning permissions throughout the UK … simply ask them to provide details!