Planning for the Business You Want to Become

I was having a think about the impact of others in the business I work in, and especially the planning team.  I have always felt that planning works best when it is part of the conversation from the beginning, rather than something that is brought into a project once all the other decisions have been made.

Having worked with garden centres, farm shops and rural businesses for over 25 years, I've seen plenty of projects evolve significantly between the first conversation and the final planning application. This was especially true in my Garden and Leisure days when we developed a group of independent garden centres into destinations. 

The best projects are rarely completely formed at the outset. They develop through conversations, analysis, ideas, questions, challenges and sometimes a change of direction.

Planning isn't a straight line

When we first sit down with a client, we don't necessarily know exactly where the project is going to end up.  We might understand the ambition, but there are usually a lot of questions to answer.

What does the business actually need?

What does the customer experience need to feel and look like?

How will the operation work?

What does the site allow?

What does planning policy say?

And, importantly, does the idea make commercial sense?

For me, this is where having our planning team involved early is so valuable.

I work closely with Kathryn Farden, our Planning Director, and the wider planning team. What I particularly value is that planning isn't treated as a separate discipline within Pleydell Smithyman.  It is part of the wider conversation, which is essential.

Kathryn and her team will challenge an idea where they think there may be a planning issue or something to note.  Equally, they are open and experienced allowing them to understand why a particular commercial or operational requirement is important before deciding how we might approach it from a planning perspective.  That iterative back-and-forth review is really important.

It's about finding the right answer

I don't think our role is simply to take a client's initial idea and try to get planning permission for it.  Sometimes we do exactly that because it is the right solution.  But sometimes the conversation leads somewhere different and the strategy for the site develops first.  A building might need to move. A use might need to change. The amount of development might need to be reconsidered. Access, parking or servicing might influence the layout. Or we might identify an opportunity that wasn't part of the original brief.

For me, that is the value of an iterative approach.  We're constantly asking:

Where are we now?

What does success look like?

How might it work?

How do we get there?

The answer to those questions can change as the project develops, and that's okay.

Commercial thinking matters

Planning permission on its own doesn't make a project successful.

If we're looking at a garden centre or farm shop or any other type of rural development really, we need to understand how customers arrive, where they park, how they move around the site, what they see, where they spend time and how the different parts of the business work together.   A restaurant needs to work operationally.  A retail area needs to work commercially.  A visitor attraction needs to provide a reason for people to come and, importantly, a reason to stay.  Plus lots more principles to consider, but those things can all have planning implications.

That is one of the things I think makes the Pleydell Smithyman approach different.  Our planning team can and do sit alongside our commercial, retail, catering, architectural and design thinking.

We can challenge each other internally before we ask the client to make a decision.

Kathryn and the Planning Team

Kathryn Farden leads our planning team and has built considerable experience across garden centres, farm shops, leisure attractions and rural businesses.

Working with Kathryn and the team, I have found that they bring a good balance of strategic thinking and detailed planning knowledge.  They are prepared to ask difficult questions when necessary, but equally understands that a planning proposal needs to work for the business behind it.

Our planning work has achieved a 98% planning application success rate, which is something the whole team is proud of … especially Kathryn.

But for me, the statistic only tells part of the story.  What I value most is the way Kathryn and the planning team work with the rest of us.  There is a genuine willingness to listen, challenge and find solutions rather than simply saying that something can't be done.

That collaborative approach is particularly important when you're dealing with complex rural sites, changing businesses and projects where there isn't a standard solution.  It is also a key value for our business ‘Collaboration.’

Don't be afraid to change the plan

I think there can sometimes be a perception that changing a proposal means the original thinking wasn't right.  I see it differently.  If we've tested an idea, understood the commercial implications, considered the planning position and then changed something because we've found a better solution, that's good project development.

The planning process should and does help us do that!

Ultimately, we're not just trying to secure permission for a building or a change of use.  We're trying to help create something that works for the business, works for its customers, works on the site and has the potential to support the next stage of growth.

Planning for the business you want to become

After more than 25 years working with businesses across the garden centre, farm shop and rural sectors, one thing I've learned is that no two projects are the same.  Every business has different ambitions. Every site has different opportunities and constraints. And every client has a different definition of success.

That's why good planning needs to be personal, collaborative and iterative.  For me, it's not simply about asking “Can we get planning permission?”  It's about asking “What is the right development for this business, and how can we help make it happen?”.

That is where I see the real value of bringing planning, commercial thinking and design together, and it is something I believe our team is quite unique in with this approach, and it works particularly well.