The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 8: Summer 2018 | Page 25

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Carter Jonas host South West’s first planning seminar In the winter issue of The Business Exchange we announced the appointment of Lachlan Robertson, as a senior hire for the Bath team at national property consultancy Carter Jonas. Here Lachlan tells us about Carter Jonas’ plans for Bath and the launch of their first south west planning seminar. At the end of last year to coincide with my appointment, Carter Jonas opened a new south west planning consultancy hub based in Bath to supplement its national offer in London, Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford. The first South West Planning Seminar held at the Apex Hotel on June 5, was an opportunity to launch the team and demonstrate its expertise and knowledge of planning in the south west in the residential, commercial and local government markets. In common with many in the planning consultancy world, Carter Jonas’ planning and development team takes a keen interest in planning applications and policy making, for the benefit of its clients, as well as macro events that can impact on regional markets across the country. Whilst the old style of regional planning disappeared with the last coalition government, a new regionalism is now on the rise, based on the co-operation and negotiation of shared interests across many government organisations, government agencies and the business sector. The South West Planning Update provided attendees with an overview of the current market conditions, recent changes to legislation and looked at how the south west is faring in relation to this revival of regionalism. Across the south west, we have some 59 adopted or emerging Local Plans, four Joint Plans in the making, 310 Neighbourhood Plans and one new National Planning Policy Framework, the final version of which is due for publication this summer. All of these are at various stages of production and few are aligned in terms of timing. But there are signs that greater co-operation amongst them will reduce the number of plans at the strategic level with new Joint Plans based on city/combined regions at four locations: Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Dorset. Together with the new Combined Authority, devolved funding and the forthcoming Mayoral Plan, we have the seeds of this regionalism coming together from the ground up. We now have an example of how that works in practice, with the recent publication of the West of England Joint Spatial Plan which, once its detail is examined, reveals that the laudable objectives of true co-operation amongst a myriad of government organisations still relies on an old problem; where will the money for Infrastructure come from whether it be for schools, railway stations or for new junctions onto the region’s motorways? But at the very least, a new enthusiasm for regionalism should help us find the answer. For more info: www.carterjonas.co.uk Brochures Leaflets Posters Business cards Newsletters Merchandise Websites Signage Exhibitions Banners (you name it, we design and print it) Specialising in commercial & domestic moves, plus global shipping. Get in touch for your no obligation quote. 01793 336004 www.studio-cs.co.uk www.britanniaquickmove.co.uk [email protected] 01225 738330 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018 25