Independent Town Planning · Jeremy Hinds MRTPI
Planning advice for civic growth, not just permission.
Built on more than twenty-five years in planning practice, CivicScape is an independent voice to say what a scheme actually needs.
↑ Manchester Central Library — a civic room, not just a building
The point of it
A housing target
is not a place.
Structural reform of the planning system and structural reform of urban space are, in practice, the same project. Civic growth means places people can identify with — somewhere to live and work that belongs to its surroundings, not a count of units delivered.
The system we have wasn't built for that, and pretending otherwise helps no one. Working the process well is table stakes. Wanting to change it is part of the job.
01 — Services
From the back of an envelope to the steps of an inquiry.
Feasibility ———→ Appeal
01
Initial advice
Before you commit, know what the scheme is really up against — commercially, and in policy terms.
02
Pre-application
Working out what you actually need from a site, then making that case to the authority before objections harden.
03
Planning application
Statement, reports, submission, and management through to a decision — including standing up at committee.
04
Planning appeals
Sometimes an appeal is unavoidable — judgement built over years, as expert witness at hearing or inquiry, working with leading barristers.
05
Strategic & policy advice
What devolution and reform actually mean for your scheme or portfolio — the risks a purely procedural view misses.
The Planning Perspective
Opinions on planning, offered whether or not you asked.
Ongoing analysis of planning policy, practice, and the politics underneath it. Currently thinking about the Devolution Act — and whether moving power to a new tier actually lets local government govern locally, or just relocates the same decisions.
Read the latest →
02 — About
Jeremy Hinds, MRTPI
More than twenty-five years in planning practice, based in Manchester and practising across the country — commercial and residential schemes, and a working knowledge of how planning decisions and investment decisions lean on each other.
Work beyond commercial practice too: youth homelessness with Centrepoint, and Rebuild — on reforming how we deliver housing people can actually afford. The same view runs through both. Planning exists to serve people, not only development.
More about Jeremy →Get in touch