Planning, Environmental and Landscape Consultants

VEC offer a 'pre application service where we assemble just the right amount of detail to open discussions with your local planning authority.

These details will usually require a sketch concept design or a 2D layout as well as a pre app statement where we identify the key planning issues and how we would look to solve them through the planning process.

VEC have significant experience of acting as the agent for the planning application which includes submitting all forms, dealing with planning officers on your behalf and overall management of the application.

This takes significant stress away from you knowing that we are dealing with objections where they arise and finding creative solutions to issues brought up by statutory consultees.

Our robust and comprehensive Planning Statements simply make the case for your development in the strongest possible terms. We write them in a persuasive and engaging style to demonstrate the benefits of your proposal and how it meets local and national planning policy.

We often draw on case law or recent decisions to demonstrate compliance and very often find our words rewritten in the planning officers report.

We have successfully deployed Planning Statements for difficult schemes such as Wind Turbines and 'Paragraph 80' homes where an orchestrated argument is required to make the case.

VECs combined skills ensure our heritage statements demonstrate the significance of the heritage asset, the likely harms to be expected and along with work undertaken in associated Planning Statements identify the public benefits of the scheme.

Our landscape and townscape expertise is critical in providing evidence of visual relationships for historic buildings, conservation areas and historic landscapes.

We can provide concept through to detailed design for planning through to construction and have significant experience of landscape design for 'Paragraph 80 homes through to masterplanning for urban extensions containing major new green infrastructure.

Our CMLI level landscape design seeks to take a 'landscape led' approach which often puts the schemes we work on at an advantage within the planning process immediately dealing with landscape, visual, heritage and ecology issues.

We provide landscape and visual assessments for major schemes including tourism facilities, renewable energy and major housing schemes as well as Paragraph 80 homes, all to GLVIA3 standard.

We can organise informal landscape appraisals through to 'wire frame' visualisations and are adept at marrying assessment and design to achieve mitigation of landscape impacts.

Our robust and persuasive objection Statements mean we are well placed to identify material considerations for objection and place these squarely in front of the case officer.

We are also adept at identifying deficiencies in submitted technical reports and deploying strong arguments for individuals or concerned groups.

We can provide a planning appeal service where we focus on the strongest possible 'statement of case' and manage the entire appeal process on your behalf.

Your statement of case as assembled by VEC will aim to rebut the Local planning authorities refusal aims with a laser like focus on how your proposal meets planning policy and will where possible be supported by recent local decisions as well as case law.