Roach Planning

Roach Planning is a commercially-focused planning and environmental consultancy practice based in South West England. The company provides expert planning and environmental advice to its clients, promoting their development projects and land, and obtaining planning permissions.

Roach Planning is run by Ian Roach, a Chartered Town Planner and Chartered Environmentalist with sixteen years' experience in planning and development, both in consultancy and client site. Between 2016 and 2017 he was Planning Manager for Wainhomes, where he obtained planning permissions for nearly 900 new homes at nine sites across Devon and Cornwall. Prior to this, Ian spent fifteen years in multidisciplinary consultancies, latterly as Associate Director and head of AECOM’s Planning and Environment team in Plymouth where he obtained consents for various commercial property, residential, waste, energy and defence projects.

Commercial and Risk Management Ethos

The central tenet of Roach Planning’s work is planning risk management: identifying planning risks, then mitigating them as cost-effectively as possible to maximise the chances of obtaining planning permission. Such mitigation starts with the overall planning strategy, but goes on to manifest itself through:

• a detailed review of development plan policy and material considerations;
• a co-ordinated design and consultant team working iteratively to produce a high quality and commercially acceptable site layout;
• a suite of robust technical reports and drawings to support an application; and
• a communications strategy for engagement with the local planning authority, local politicians, neighbours and the general public.

Services include the following.

Planning

• Planning policy review and strategy advice
• Pre-application meetings
• Planning statements
• Application forms
• Design advice informed by planning and environmental risk assessment
• Critical review of consultants’ scope, drawings and reports
• Section 106 agreement negotiation and CIL
• Planning committees
• Discharge of conditions and Section 106 obligations
• Appeal management

Stakeholder Engagement

• Stakeholder mapping and engagement strategy
• Local planning authority liaison (planning agent)
• Political lobbying
• Designing, arranging and attending public consultations and exhibitions
• Statements of community involvement
• Media relations

Land Promotion

• Planning appraisals to assess development potential
• Local Plan representations
• Neighbourhood Development Plan representations
• SHLAA representations

Environmental

• Environmental impact assessment (EIA)
• Screening Opinions
• Scoping Opinions
• Environmental Statements
• Sub-EIA environmental appraisals
• Construction environmental management plans

Project Management

• Co-ordination of design and consultant teams to programme and budget
• Project execution plans
• Work breakdown structure
• Gantt charts

Business: Business and Science Parks

Business: Change of Use

Business: New Premises

Countryside & Environment: Environmental Impact Assessments

Countryside & Environment: Environmental Statements

Countryside & Environment: National Parks

Housing: Housing Design Layout

Design: Masterplanning

Neighbourhood & Community Planning: Public Participation

Housing: Affordable Housing

Housing: Appeals

Housing: Applications

Housing: Residential Developments

Housing: Social Housing

Industrial: Heavy Industry

Industrial: Light Industry

Industrial: Pollution (Air, Water, Noise)

Industrial: Utilities

Industrial: Waste Disposal

Negotiation & Dispute Resolution: Section 106 Agreements

Research: Feasibility Studies

Research: Research / Surveys

Research: Site Appraisals

Transport: Railways

Transport: Roads

Transport: Underground (Tube) Systems

Urban Regeneration: Brownfield Sites

Minerals & Waste: Waste Disposal

Minerals & Waste: Waste Recycling

Minerals & Waste: Incineration

Marine: Ports

Renewable Energy: Wind Power

Renewable Energy: Solar Power

Renewable Energy: Biomass

Countryside & Environment: Appropriate Assessment (Habitats Regulations)

Employment: City Centre Tall Buildings

Employment: Distribution and Warehousing

Neighbourhood & Community Planning: Community and Stakeholder Consultation Events

Industrial: Site Design Layout

Urban Regeneration: Waterfront Sites

Design: Design Layout

Design: Tall Buildings

Research: Environmental Impact Assessment