Developer planning
Planning support shaped around your project
Our expertise spans strategic residential projects, mixed use schemes, infill developments and complex site redevelopment, backed by deep insight into policy, design expectations and local authority practice.
Why Rubix
Why developers partner with us
Successful development planning requires more than paperwork. Our approach combines:
We work with you from concept to consent, anticipating decision-maker challenges and positioning proposals to succeed.
Early feasibility analysis and risk identification
Planning judgement connected to the commercial objective, design response and decision-making context.
Strategic planning alignment with local plans
Planning judgement connected to the commercial objective, design response and decision-making context.
Detailed design input to add market desirability
Planning judgement connected to the commercial objective, design response and decision-making context.
Access to a broader consultancy network (highways, ecologists, arboricultural consultants, etc.)
Planning judgement connected to the commercial objective, design response and decision-making context.
Support across the lifecycle
Developer services include
We support developers through every stage of the planning process:
Each service is tailored to reflect the commercial and regulatory realities of development planning.
Feasibility appraisals prior to site acquisition
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
Pre-application representation to councils and stakeholders
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
CAD drawings and 3D CGI
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
Full planning applications
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
CIL, S106 and infrastructure advice
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
Engagement with specialist technical consultants
Coordinated planning input focused on evidence, risk and a deliverable route to consent.
Commercially grounded
How we enhance development outcomes
Our work begins with understanding the commercial objective behind the site. Whether the priority is unit numbers, layout efficiency, marketability, or risk reduction, we align planning strategy with development reality from the outset. This allows us to identify where policy flexibility may exist, where design changes can materially improve prospects, and where early constraints need to be designed around rather than argued against later.
We bring together planning policy, design response and site context so proposals are presented as logical, policy-grounded evolutions of the site rather than speculative ambitions. This is particularly important on sensitive sites, edge-of-settlement locations, Green Belt land, or where character and landscape considerations are central to the decision.
Through feasibility, pre-application engagement and carefully structured submissions, we:
Identify risks early and design them out before submission
Position schemes to reflect how decisions are actually made at officer and committee level
Integrate architectural design with planning justification to strengthen credibility
Coordinate specialist inputs so the submission reads as a coherent, professional package
Reduce the likelihood of delay, redesign or refusal through anticipatory strategy
This approach provides developers with clarity, realistic expectations and a smoother route to consent, helping to protect programme, viability and delivery confidence.
We also advise on matters that materially affect development strategy beyond design and layout, including CIL exposure, infrastructure and affordable housing policy, Green Belt and Grey Belt considerations, and settlement strategy. These issues are assessed early so that obligations and policy risks are understood before land, design or programme assumptions harden.
Development strategy before commitment
De-risk the planning position before the design is fixed
The most valuable planning decisions are often made before a scheme becomes expensive to change. We help developers, landowners and site promoters understand the planning baseline, test realistic development parameters and organise the consultant team around the issues that will influence consent and delivery.
This may begin with a site feasibility appraisal before acquisition or promotion. Where greater certainty is needed, we can then coordinate pre-application engagement, design development and the route to a full submission.
Policy and site baseline
Review the development plan, emerging policy, planning history, designations, housing or employment evidence and any constraints affecting principle or capacity.
Development parameters
Test use, scale, access, layout efficiency, amenity, servicing, landscape and design quality before a preferred scheme hardens.
Obligations and delivery
Identify likely CIL exposure, planning obligations, affordable housing policy and condition requirements without assuming that lawful contributions can simply be designed away.
Consultant coordination
Define the specialist evidence needed from highways, ecology, trees, heritage, drainage and other disciplines, then align it with the planning and design strategy.
A controlled route to consent
From opportunity to implementable permission
The planning strategy should protect the programme as well as the application. We maintain a clear thread from early site judgement through design, evidence, determination and conditions.
Screen the opportunity
Establish the lawful and policy baseline, principal constraints and realistic routes before commitment.
Set the strategy
Agree the planning case, development parameters, consultant brief and authority-engagement route.
Coordinate the proposal
Bring design and technical evidence together around one coherent development proposition.
Manage the application
Prepare the full planning application, monitor consultation and advise on officer requests or amendments.
Protect delivery
Review the decision, conditions and obligations, with a defined route for condition discharge or appeal advice where required.
Related planning services
Continue to the relevant service
Choose the planning service that matches the current stage of the site or project.
Feasibility & Advice
Planning potential, risk and strategy.
Explore service↗Pre-Applications
Focused discussions before submission.
Explore service↗Full Planning Applications
Coordinated applications through determination.
Explore service↗Drawings & CGI
Application and presentation material.
Explore service↗Discharge of Conditions
Post-consent evidence and compliance.
Explore service↗Appeals
Strategy following refusal or non-determination.
Explore service↗Your questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Can early planning strategy clarify CIL and affordable housing obligations?
Early advice can clarify likely exposure, but it cannot remove lawful obligations. We review the charging schedule, existing floorspace, proposed use, phasing and any relevant relief or exemption procedures. Affordable housing expectations are assessed against current policy. Where viability evidence is genuinely relevant, it should be proportionate, transparent and evidence-based; CIL reliefs and exemptions have strict eligibility and procedural requirements.
How do you approach Green Belt and Grey Belt development sites?
We first test the site against the current national Grey Belt definition and the relevant Green Belt purposes, then consider any exclusions, site constraints and the policies that govern development in the Green Belt. Where the Grey Belt route is relevant, the wider planning balance and any applicable Golden Rules must still be addressed. A Grey Belt classification does not make permission automatic.
What if the local authority has restrictive housing policies or a constrained housing supply position?
We examine the development plan, settlement strategy, housing supply evidence, emerging policy and recent decisions together. Tension between these considerations may affect the planning balance, but it does not displace the development plan automatically. The case must remain grounded in the site, the proposal and current policy evidence.
How can appeal decisions and local precedent strengthen a proposal?
Relevant appeal decisions and recent permissions can show how comparable policies and planning issues have been treated in practice. They are fact-specific rather than automatically binding, so we use them where the site, policy context and decision-making issue provide a meaningful comparison.
When should viability, layout efficiency and policy compliance be considered together?
From the very start. Layout, unit numbers, design response and planning policy are interdependent. Adjustments at concept stage often avoid the need for redesign later when policy conflicts become apparent.
How do specialist inputs affect planning success?
Early coordination with highways, ecology, arboriculture, heritage and drainage consultants allows the planning submission to read as a coherent, professionally managed scheme rather than a collection of reports assembled late in the process.
Developer planning
Test the planning potential before design is fixed
Send us the site address, planning history and available site information. We will review the likely planning route, principal constraints and the next evidence or design decisions.
Early planning judgement can protect value, identify constraints and give the consultant team a clear route through feasibility, application and appeal.
Include the site address and any decision notice where available.
Request an initial review
