Planning and viability advice in Durham

Development appraisals, viability assessments and Section 106 negotiation

We act for developers and landowners in Durham and across the North East, working with Durham County Council and the neighbouring authorities.

Our work in England centres on the commercial side of planning. Development appraisals before acquisition. Financial viability assessments where a scheme cannot carry the affordable housing or infrastructure being asked of it. Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy negotiation, and applications to modify agreements that no longer fit the scheme.

These are the points where a development is won or lost on numbers rather than policy, and they are what a chartered surveyor who is also a chartered town planner is built for.

Why the two qualifications matter

A viability assessment is a surveyor's document submitted into a planner's process. Most firms hand it between two departments, and the appraisal and the planning statement end up making slightly different arguments. Councils and inspectors notice.

Glen Etive Projects is led by Paul Hughes MRICS MRTPI. One adviser writes both, and they agree.

What else we do here

Full planning applications and supporting statements. Appeals to the Planning Inspectorate. Site promotion through the local plan. Land valuation and development appraisal for acquisition, funding or sale. Advice on former colliery and brownfield land, where remediation cost is usually the number that decides whether a scheme works.

Conservation and historic settings

Durham is a demanding place to develop. The city centre sits within a World Heritage Site and much of the surrounding area is conservation area or listed. We handle listed building consent and the heritage case alongside the planning application.

Working across two planning systems

Paul Hughes has over twenty years in land and development, and works in both the English and Scottish systems. In England that means the National Planning Policy Framework, Section 106 and CIL. We do not apply Scottish precedent to English sites, or the reverse.

Talk to us

Call 0785 256 8874 or email paul@glenetiveprojects.co.uk for an initial conversation about a site in Durham or the surrounding area.