Carter Jonas’ award-winning regeneration scheme shows how densification can meet housing targets, enhance wellbeing and avoid overreliance on the Green Belt.

We at Carter Jonas believe there are many advantages to new towns and have been assessing the policy to inform decisions on how it can be realised.

In conversation with Planning and Development InSite, Paul Belton, Partner, reflects on whether the government’s growth aspirations are achievable in the current political climate.

Carter Jonas has worked on several projects reconnecting people to waterways and recently created a regeneration plan for the Vale of White Horse District Council for Abingdon-on-Thames.

Open storage / IOS sites can play an important role in providing jobs and economic output, while being a vital component of the modern industrial function.

The opening of the Carter Jonas’ Manchester office in May last year marked a significant milestone in the firm's strategic expansion in the North West region, while helping to further target the burgeoning life sciences, commercial and technology sectors.

Do the government proposals risk unforeseen consequences?

How Carter Jonas’ 10-year planning permission has enabled Rudding Park Hotel and Spa to realise its vision.

Does Chapter 12 of the new NPPF introduce sufficient change?

Will a more streamlined planning system be put in place?

Can the government achieve the success of the original New Towns movement?

Do the changes to the NPPF really open up opportunity?

As the city centre continues on its regeneration journey, we consider what has contributed to Swansea’s success so far

The concept of legacy in new communities was conceived and developed by The Prince's Foundation and first put into practice on the then Prince's own land.

2024 marked Colin Brown’s 30-year anniversary as a Cambridge-based planning consultant.

Carter Jonas’ Green Belt research demonstrates to what extent the ‘Grey Belt’ can facilitate the government’s housing targets.

The new government’s intention to drive growth through structural changes to the planning system is encouraging.

The Labour Party manifesto sought to “Cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero.”

The publication of the government’s much anticipated Planning and Infrastructure Bill is imminent, and within it, a change to the law surrounding compulsory purchase orders (CPOs).

To find out how this Bill might impact on planning, Planning and Development InSite spoke to Sarah Cox, Partner in Carter Jonas’ Leeds office and Gareth Jackson, Partner in the Bristol office.

Commenting on the revised draft NPPF, Colin Brown, Head of Planning & Development, Carter Jonas said:

The need to challenge perceptions to unleash potential

To understand the extent of past and potential future changes in the planning and development sector, Planning and Development InSite spoke to...

Too many planning applications follow the same frustrating path of being recommended for approval, but when considered by a planning committee...

Peter Canavan, Partner at Carter Jonas discusses the role of AI in strategic planning.

In talking to Adelle Okei, a development surveyor in Carter Jonas’ Birmingham office, the word ‘trailblazer’ occurs several times.

Property development at scale is a long term process which seeks to establish and create value: it takes many years in research, analysis and planning even before construction begins, and the resulting developments will probably last well into the next century.

John Mason is a member of Carter Jonas’ Planning & Development team in Cambridge, who first moved to the city as an undergraduate studying for a geography degree. But his planning and development experience is far from limited to Cambridge.

Katherine Jones is a planning consultant with a unique insight into the potential for development to inspire healthy lifestyles.

Sarah Cox – Partner, Carter Jonas (Leeds)

Adelle Okei, Surveyor, Carter Jonas (Birmingham) 

Niamh Burke, Associate, Carter Jonas (London) 

Johnny Clayton, Head of Masterplanning, Carter Jonas 

Imagine a future where masterplans and house type packs can be reviewed and tweaked at the click of a button.

As the battle lines are drawn up for this year’s General Election, there is little doubt that the development industry will be a key battleground.

Is green belt reform necessary to address the housing crisis?

How can the Healthy Streets London Plan Policy evolve to provide better outcomes for outer London boroughs? 

Planning, by its very nature, concerns the future. As such, it can be argued that those with the greatest influence in planning should be those with the greatest stake in the future – the young. 

The Environment Act was granted Royal Assent just under a year ago. At the time, the development industry was somewhat...

‘Wellbeing’: a trendy buzzword or an important factor in future office design? 

Built to Rent (BTR) has experienced rapid growth in the last decade, since the undertaking of the Montague Review in 2012, and the subsequent creation of a £1.1 billion BTR fund in 2013 to incentivise related construction.

As a science and technology superpower, the UK is making up for lost time.

Christopher Cooper discusses the key differences between Community Infrastructure Levy and the Infrastructure Levy

Annabelle Parkinson, in the Carter Jonas Birmingham office, discusses how planning can help tackle the climate emergency

Land is our greatest resource: one that has considerable potential to address society’s challenges. So, determining how land is used is a significant responsibility.

A case study analysis

Where Two Worlds Converge

Central Abingdon Regeneration Framework

Alexandra Houghton and Glen Richardson

The success of Carter Jonas’ People Strategy in delivering gender diversity

A lesson in sustainable building practices

From New Town to New City

Government policy on onshore wind

In 2019 Carter Jonas was appointed by Cambridge City Council to oversee the regeneration of the East Barnwell area of Cambridge.

Despite the Letwin Independent Review of Build Out largely exonerating the development industry of ‘landbanking’, developers are all too often criticised for leaving prime sites dormant behind hoardings.

Wholescale change or unworkable inconsistencies?

What does it mean for housing targets?

The benefits of green spaces and the lack of policy that affects them

What does political chaos, the cost-of-living crisis, and a return to austerity mean for levelling up? Sarah Cox, Partner at our Leeds offices shares her thoughts.

The role of cultural strategies in supporting changing communities.

The current Government is committed to growth, but have edged away from the 2019 pledge to deliver 300,000 homes per annum. What does this mean for the future of housing delivery?

A revitalised vision or ruin?

The Importance of Strategic Planning in Providing Drinking Water

EcoWorld has a refreshing approach to the creation of new communities which aims to put an emphasis on the ‘S’ of ESG

What are the longer-term prospects for the Life Sciences Sector?

A look at the Government’s ambition for the planning and development sector, as cited in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, is to achieve ‘full digitalisation of the system’.

Shaptor Capital’s 20 minute neighbourhood: a model for environmentally responsible developments

Swansea Council’s ambitious regeneration vision.

What impact would nationwide devolution deals have on democracy in planning?

The role of Carter Jonas’ Live Local Plan Monitor

Can proposed changes to public consultation reduce the number of planning applications which go to appeal?

Wrapped up in the need to deliver 300,000 new homes each year is the equally pressing need to build more genuinely affordable housing, both to rent and to buy.

Extending engagement and fast-tracking consensus, or a dumbing down of engagement opportunities?

Does the 300,000 pa target provide a necessary encouragement or the inevitability of failure?

The NPPF was revised in July 2021. Upon publication, it was immediately pointed out that the new version did not mention net zero.

Appearing before the House of Lords' Built Environment Committee in November, as part of the inquiry into meeting the UK's housing demand, Housing minister Christopher Pincher said, ‘Land value capture is an important item in our considerations.

What was its purpose and what does it achieve?

Jessica McSweeney, Partner in Carter Jonas’s London office considers the new London Plan’s approach to addressing affordable housing provision.

Can freeports ‘level up’ Britain, from one coast to another? Metaphorically, this is what the freeports agenda aims to achieve. Launched in 2020’s October budget, freeports are intended to assist in Government’s ambitious plans to regenerate all corners of the UK. Mike Stacey, Group Head of Projects (Commercial) at Associated British Ports (ABP), explains.

The average life expectancy for a homeless woman is just 43, 45 for a man. But as the work of Cambridge-based It Takes a City (ITAC) has shown, there is much that we can do to help.

In planning and development, regeneration is frequently a synonym for redevelopment. Yet if we were to look to its original definition, we’d find that it concerns new life, not new buildings.

The planning sector’s efforts to combat climate change have been criticised as ‘all talk and no action’. Planning & Development Insite spoke to planning consultants Peter Canavan and Willow Mercer to discuss how our sector might better achieve net zero.

Colin Brown, Head of Planning & Development, considers the answer to this essential question.

Lockdown proved that cycling is great for our cities. But what can be done to make cities great for cycling? Carter Jonas’ Steve Morris addresses this increasingly relevant question.

Is Biodiversity Net Gain (‘BNG’) a developer’s net loss, or can enhanced biodiversity add value to future development? Kieron Gregson, a planning consultant in Carter Jonas’ London office, and Daniel Sherwood, a development consultant in Leeds, discuss the relationship between BNG and viability.

In a 2018 article, we highlighted that communities are too often unbalanced and polarised and warned, ‘If age segregation is defining our communities today, then action must be taken to prevent it escalating further’. Three years on, Planning & Development Insite considers whether society and our industry has actually made any progress.

Sir Oliver Letwin’s Independent Review of Build Out has had a significant impact on housing policy over the last four years. But are the review’s assumptions correct? Within this article, Kathryn Bowers, a surveyor in our Leeds office, considers this essential question. Kathryn’s Master's thesis led to a significant piece of research on whether the recommendation for greater variety adequately addresses housing need.

Our new town centre and urban change team creates an invaluable function in tackling the issues that face town centres.

The 20-minute radius from our homes has never been more important.