Planning Disputes

We advise a wide range of clients from large real estate funds to SME development companies. Ridgemont’s planning team also advises high net worth individuals seeking advice on their residential properties. All our clients benefit from our technical excellence, experience of public authority and statutory body decision making and our unique approach to offering truly pragmatic advice.

We work closely with our clients and their planning advisers to ensure that lawfully compliant plans are drawn, giving your application the greatest chance of success.

Our lawyers all came from “Big Law” and we provide an excellent quality of service and delightful client journey in a cost effective way. We provide expert advice on the complete spectrum of planning law issues and where you do not in fact need legal advice, we have a black book of consultants that we are happy to share with you.

We advise on planning applications and appeals. We negotiate Planning agreements including 106 agreements and advise on CIL payments. We have helped many clients avoid CIL payments using technical legal arguments.

Get in touch

Get in touch using the contact form below, calling us on 0204 579 8686 or emailing us at contactus@ridgemont.co.

We can assist you with anything related to highways law, including s 38 (construction of a road that may be offered to the Highway Authority for adoption) and s 278 agreements (application to a local authority to alter or improve the existing highway).

We are well averse at advising on Permitted Development rights and Prior Approval applications, as we are acting for clients in relation to Planning Inquiries. Ridgemont is experienced at challenging planning decisions by Judicial Review and in making s 288 challenges in the High Court.

We also help clients in relation to Compulsory Purchase Orders and land appropriation, including promoting or objecting and negotiating compensation claims.

Many of Ridgemont’s clients are developers in prime Central London. As such, we are experienced in advising clients on Listed building, conservation and heritage issues.

We understand that planning law is at the heart of your business. We make it our business to provide you with clarity as to where you stand and help you define and achieve your commercial outcomes.

Our experience includes:

Successfully challenging a substantial CIL payment on behalf of a high net worth individual.
Providing ad hoc planning law advice to land promoters and developers up to the point of planning application and through to appeals, where necessary.
Advising various developers on challenging planning refusals by way of Judicial Review.
Assisting Prime Central London developers with technical advice on proposed planning applications and compliance with permissions.

Why Ridgemont?

Ridgemont’s team is made up of expert senior solicitors, all of whom previously worked in “Big Law” (i.e. the top 50 law firms in the UK).

We provide bespoke advice tailored to your needs. Our advice is commercial and pragmatic, enabling you to use it effectively to make business decisions.

We have an expert understanding of real estate law. We can guide you through the maze of planning disputes.

We are user-friendly. Our lawyers speak in plain English, providing service levels akin to “Big Law”. We have built our processes to make onboarding as pain-free as possible. Our fee earner structure means that you have access to a partner-level solicitor at all times and they will always be on top of your matter.

We operate our business in an ethical way. That means we think about what the “right thing to do” is when making a business decision. As an example, we do not charge a default unit of time for incoming emails or letters as we think we ought to be paid for work done, not for merely receiving correspondence. We are also open and transparent on what we charge, meaning our clients never receive a surprising invoice.

We provide “Big Law” service levels and quality of advice, with expert senior solicitors providing commercial, pragmatic advice. Necessarily, that does not come cheap as we have to invest in great lawyers and everything they need to do their job. However, due to us having comparatively lower overheads to “Big Law” firms, we are able to charge less than they would for providing the same service levels and advice.

We are proactive in finding innovative ways to advise our clients in a cost proportionate way.

Who we act for?

We act for commercial Landlords and commercial tenants. We also act for Prime Central London residential tenants.

Your journey with us

Get in touch using the contact form below, calling us on 0203 909 9590 or emailing us at contactus@ridgemont.co
We guarantee that we will be in touch with you the same day to listen to your needs and to explain how we can help and the likely cost.
Assuming you wish to engage us, we will then onboard you as a client, which normally takes a matter of hours.
From there, you will be assigned an experienced solicitor who will have conduct of your matter from cradle to grave and be available to speak to you and responsive to emails at every juncture.

You can learn more about our journey by watching these videos.