ABOUT US
About Us
Gray Planning & Development
Ltd
is an independent and RTPI chartered Planning & Development Consultancy. The practice was established by Neil Gray (MRTPI) in 2017.
Neil led the Scottish team of a UK town planning and commercial property consultancy. As Partner he had coordinated and grown the business, advising clients across Scotland, across the residential, retail, leisure, roadside and wider commercial and corporate property market in Scotland and North England. Prior to that, Neil was Associate with a firm of global property consultants. He has over 20 years town planning experience in both the private and public sector.
Neil is past Convenor of the East of Scotland RTPI Chapter leading and coordinating the professional advance of town planning practice through training, networking and knowledge sharing. He is also an Ambassador for the RTPI taking the profession to local schools careers talks. He has mentored licentiate and associate candidates of the RTPI through their APC stages.
Gray Planning & Development primarily offers tailored, personalised town planning advice across a wide variety of development projects across Scotland, with Neil's particularly strong local knowledge of the Fife and Highland areas, owing to personal experience.
Neil has also a proven track record, of securing planning permissions, winning appeals or other regulatory land use decisions especially inchallenging circumstances, big or small!
He has built a reputation for sound advice within both rural and urban settings, drawn from across a broad sector base - primarily leisure, tourism, sports, residential and commercial (retail, office, town centre and edge of centre food/lifestyle) uses.
This means he can provide an immediate and local awareness of the market and geography within it, and a detailed understanding of the context for your development proposals. He will tackle large or small cases.
Gray Planning & Development's
business strategy is to offer its service as:
- Personal
- Professional
- Proactive
- Commercial
To achieve Results
for you
To reach this outcome, we offer leading independent town planning advice to both private and public sector clients. We pride ourselves in being a Director-led practice to ensure you get the best advice from start to finish on all our development projects.
Sectors
Housing (large and small - city and village, redevelop or green field)
Retail (shops and town centres)
Commercial (business and roadside / parkside)
Renewable Energy
Rural Leisure / Sports
Tourism for Diversification and Economic Growth
Education
Industrial (legacy and heritage)
Health (care and lifestyle)
Master Planning / Design
Sector Specific
Studies & Research
Community Engagement
Services
Town Planning Guidance
Planning Strategy & Development Appraisal
Planning Applications
Planning Appeals/Expert Witness
Development Plan Representations
Sector Specific Studies & Research
Project Management
Community Engagement
Services
You don't just get reports, nor does planning consent result from filling out application forms and sending in drawings. We believe the offer of high quality independent planning and development service is 'value added' and often produces satisfying outcomes, when it includes:
Town Planning Guidance
We will guide you through the planning system. The legal procedures for dealing with planning applications are set through a raft of legislation and special control processes from heritage, to environmental impact assessment. We have nearly 25 years experience of working with the system. Using our in-depth knowledge and case work experience, we can often direct you through problems, blockages or misunderstandings and point your project in the right direction. This makes things easier to follow, your ideas can flourish, and results flow through. We'll take the hassle out of dealing with the Planning Authority, objectors/constraints and simplify the jargon to help you understand what's needed and why. We know many of the planning officials, technical departments and have a broad contact pool of associate experts in a wide field of land use, conservation and environment to make things simpler for you.
Planning Strategy & Development Appraisal
Neil likes to provide straight, no nonsense advice. Our open and honest assessment about the prospects of achieving planning permission is important to you. 'No surprises' can help you budget and manage costs prior to the beginning of the process. Our strategy and appraisals are provided in plain English, and will include identifying constraints and opportunities, applying the planning policy context and advising on the best approach for obtaining planning permission, only if we consider a scheme worthy of pursuing. The question of 'viability' or "will my project work ?" can be dealt with in early course. Often new angles or approaches recommended by us come forward instead. Our mix of commercial sense, alongside proactive work, can benefit your approach and plans before they advance.
Planning Applications and Getting Decisions Right
Gray Planning & Development has a depth of experience in the successful management, submission and negotiation of all the relevant planning application types. We regularly take the lead in coordinating and managing other specialist design and delivery inputs required for your project; including Architects, Landscape / Urban Designers, Transport Planners, Environment Consultants, Surveyors, Engineers, Cost Consultants and increasingly Public Relations expertise.
Neil has a wide range of contacts and trusted associates in these fields of expertise built over 25 years. These can be recommended or hand-picked to ensure your project success.
We can utilise special forms of planning application to simplify a process, or to shorten the wait for a decision. We have experience of special controls such as conservation, hazardous substance and the intricacies of the General Permitted Development Order, i.e. "do I actually need planning permission or can this be permitted without".
We can also give a quick answer about changes of use, particularly those classified in the Use Classes Order and what types of application are needed without the hassle of asking the planning authority for pre-application advice and the cost/delay often associated with it.
Planning Appeals
/ Expert Witness
While our practice exists to get you the best planning permission via the normal application process, sometimes this does not work out. A planning committee decision against recommendation, or perhaps your project has stalled through lack of specific information or limited justifications. We are often referred refusal or non decision cases from architects, and we then advise clients on the prospects of achieving planning permission by way of planning appeal. Should you wish to proceed with an appeal we can guide and represent your case during the appeal process be that by Written Submission, Hearing, or Public Inquiry. Neil has experienced all forms of method and has applied a confident but professional approach to each case, with the emphasis on expert representation.
Development Plan Representations
The planning system encourages pro-active and early engagement on development proposals. This should be long before a planning application is made. Where possible, landowners and developers should engage in the consultation process related to Development Plans (mainly on a local basis). We have strong experience in consulting with Local Authorities and making representations to Development Plans in support of a change of use, the release of land for a new use or the change of policy in light of changed circumstances. We consider it vital that a well-thought and clear case is put forward for desired future changes to policy or proposals as the results are potentially able to reward on delays, mounting costs and foremost, disappointment at a planning application stage. We help developers and landowners to find greater certainty on receiving planning permission, usually months or years in advance of making an application; and this can often shorten the time period the Local Authority takes in determining the relevant application.
Project Management
Gray Planning & Development is able to assist in bringing project teams together and to lead the overall project management through the planning process. Neil can utilise his skills in drawing together wide expertise, through his pool of associates and specialists. Usually this is using people we trust - and like working with, who have a strong track record in delivering an excellent service to the client. As project managers we always seek to ensure that the complexity of your project is tackled and likewise, we work closely and early with local authorities to ensure they have all the necessary information required prior to determination of any planning application.
Specific Sector Studies & Research
We have detailed experience in undertaking specific sector studies and research. This takes the form of a desktop report that could stand alone or package for any type of planning application. Techniques such as sequential assessment, cumulative assessment and examination of options and reasons or justifications to support a particular proposal or option taken. We have a strong track record in helping turn the fortunes of cases on single issue matters particularly in site identification, or in discounting alternatives or for compatible uses not compliant by location. It's based on thorough research, but also local market knowledge and a commercial awareness of what's happening around us.
Community Engagement
A
formal public consultation exercise must be undertaken and the results must inform part of an overall planning application package for large scale or 'Major Development'. Gray Planning & Development has tailored a large range of event formats, led and presented cases to community meetings and does not shirk from helping keep local residents and interested parties informed of change proposals. The use of innovative engagement techniques, with notable results, include 'email campaigns', use of social media, collaboration on the use
of virtual reality / computer aided graphics, all through access to Neil's network of associates.
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