What we do

Our Service Sectors

Residential
Securing the allocation of residential development either through the development plan (including neighbourhood plans) or via the development management process/local development orders.

We monitor development plan progression including housing numbers, housing land supply and including five-year supply. We can also prepare bespoke development strategies including the preparation of vision documents and advise on phasing and site disposal.
landscape impact
Landscape visual impact is an important consideration, particularly where development must respond to setting of Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or other landscape designations.

Operating from our Oxfordshire base we are used to dealing with the Oxford Green Belt, Cotswolds, Chilterns and North Wessex Downs AONBs. We established relationships with leading landscape design specialists, and many of our projects have required landscape led design, Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments or Townscape Assessments.
Education
We have experience of working with the University of Oxford and its Colleges, including projects on campus or elsewhere. This also includes the promotion of strategic sites for housing, employment and mixed uses.

Projects may need to carefully balance the competing interests of ‘town’ and ‘gown’, the delivery of housing and teaching accommodation, and preservation of the Green Belt as well as heritage assets. Projects must also be commercially viable and promote sustainable forms of development.
Public Sector
We have worked with Oxford City Council, Oxford Direct Services and Oxford Housing Company. We have also acted for other Local Authorities as well as statutory bodies through a variety of development frameworks, joint ventures or through direct appointment.
urban regeneration
We are well-versed in the challenges of securing development on complex regeneration sites. It is invariably necessary to work closely with multiple landowners, including the public sector, and possibly against the backdrop of compulsory purchase.

We are capable of managing specialists required to progress these complex projects, undertake site viability work and advise on planning obligations, including the provision of affordable housing and major new infrastructure.
Commercial Development
The continued rise of the internet for home shopping has boosted the need for further commercial land and new distribution/delivery hubs close to key transport nodes. We have worked on schemes for offices, industrial units including trade counters, and warehousing.

This includes the preparation of site search documents, appraisals and acquisition work, as well as the submission of planning applications and development plan representations.
Rural
All forms of rural development: from agricultural diversification, estate management work, residential development (including private, worker and social housing) and the conversion of traditional and non-traditional buildings.

Often this work requires stakeholder engagement with the rural community including residents, parish councils, rural community councils and other statutory organisations.
heritage
Development increasingly needs to preserve and enhance heritage assets, including listed buildings, conservation areas, scheduled ancient monuments, world heritage sites, and local heritage assets.

Operating from our Oxfordshire base we are used to dealing with heritage assets within the City of Oxford and its surrounding towns and villages. We have experience of working with leading heritage and archaeology specialists as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
Leisure
With the effects of Covid-19, there is significant and growing demand for UK ‘staycations’. We are working with various landowners and leisure clients, diversifying landholdings to provide holiday / tourism accommodation and new facilities. Another growth area is establishing the feasibility of leisure parks in new locations, such as golf-courses, or the expansion or refurbishment of existing tourist destinations.
Viability
Financial viability has become a key part of the development management process. We have experience working with development surveyors/valuers on major schemes to ensure that the level of planning obligations, particularly affordable housing provision, falls within acceptable commercial parameters.
We are experienced at managing development requiring Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), including preparing requests for EIA Screening and Scoping.

Thorough and comprehensive EIA processes are critical to ensure the legal robustness of a planning application, and we work closely with the client’s legal team at the outset to ensure this is the case.
Working with landowners, promoters/housebuilders as well as development agents we are experienced at identifying sites for promotion within the development plan or via the development management process. We can assist with large strategic sites or small / medium sized opportunities including infill or edge of settlement situations.

Bespoke site searches can be undertaken using various search techniques, typically in a defined geographical area, or through the analysis of housing numbers and housing land supply and land registry records.
Sustainability
We work with leading sustainable consultants and have experience of various projects putting sustainable design, biodiversity off-setting and building techniques at the forefront in order to secure local planning authority and stakeholder support.
Flood risk
Development within Flood Zone 2 and 3 are required to satisfy the requirements of the sequential test and exceptions test, the aim of which is to steer new development to areas with the lowest probability of flooding (Flood Zone 1).

This requires site assessment in areas with a lower probability of flooding. We have extensive experience of overseeing/producing sequential test and exceptions tests and work closely with Flood Risk and Drainage Engineers in the Thames Valley region.
Urban Design
We have well-established relationships with various well-regarded urban designers, master-planners and architects, and are experienced at overseeing the preparation of site constraint and opportunity plans, and site capacity and illustrative layout plans. We can also help prepare Design and Access Statements, vision documents and design guides. We also have previous experience of preparing Local Development Orders for both private and public sector clients.
Site Rationalisation
We have undertaken site consolidation and rationalisation exercises various clients including utility companies, charities, the education sector and rural estates. This requires a planning assessment of the estate and working closely with the client to evolve an appropriate development strategy, paying close attention to potential sale or development strategies, possibly in conjunction with a joint venture partner.

Images courtesy of:
DDP Architects | Corstorphine + Wright Architects | ADG Architects | Berkeley Group | BHP Harwood Architects
LDA Design | edge Urban Design | JTP | Quintain Limited | IM Properties

 

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© 2021 Arc Planning Associates Ltd | Company Number: 13215837
Registered address: Henderson House, Hithercroft Road, Wallingford, OX10 9DG

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