MAGDALEN'S GAVIN COLLETT FOR YOUR PLANNING BATTLES:

MAGDALEN'S GAVIN COLLETT FOR YOUR PLANNING BATTLES:

Our group of residents in a small Somerset town has won a planning appeal against all the odds really - and I cannot praise Magdalen’s planning expert Gavin Collett enough in getting it dismissed.

We had to:

fight against the landowner ‘lord of the manor’ who still sits in the Lords;

the district council did not have a five year housing land supply and so there was pressure to build over and above on land that had not been allocated in the Local Plan; they were confident of success and had teams of consultants representing them over the whole period.

The appellants were also represented by one of the country’s top QCs.

What our town had to lose was a beautiful landscape valley greenfield site under a relief road and 220 homes. I have seen examples of developers all over the country winning these sorts of battles dozens of times as we lose our countryside under development when there are other more appropriate sites on which to build.

So it was a big and long fight - six years altogether - and we knew it would be difficult. Gavin had advised us for a couple of years and we knew he was the man to represent us at the two week long inquiry.

He rode in and destroyed every consultant that the appellants put forward. His professionalism in finding out the weak points in their cases under cross-examination was an absolute delight to see - this was TV courtroom drama stuff in real life. He really was excellent and nearly three months later I can still smile at the way he at times tied them up in knots.

I would highly recommend Gavin if you have a planning issue you want to resolve. You may not always get the successful result that we got but you would know that you have the best man putting up the best fight. 

Many many thanks Gavin for your professional input into our cause, it is very much appreciated.