The NJL team are looking forward to UKREiiF 2024. If last year was anything to go by, it's set to be a great week full of interesting discussions, opportunities and contacts.
The full NJL team is attending this year, so we wanted to re-introduce everyone and ask them some questions about their recent planning experience, what they would change about the system and what they’re looking forward to over the next 12 months.
First up, is Oliver Eves, Associate Director in the team. Oli joined NJL exactly a year ago so it’s the perfect time to look back on his time in the North West.
What is your biggest project success over the last 12 months?
Securing planning permission for the new College, Administration, Sports and Training building at Seashell Trust’s campus. NJL’s involvement in the transformation project at the campus over the last few years was one of the major factors in me seeking a move to NJL a year ago. It’s a great feeling to know you’re making a genuine difference to both the students and families lives!
If you could change one thing about the planning system what would it be?
Glaringly obvious perhaps but undoubtedly it would be better local authority funding! Without well-resourced, proactive local planning authority departments, the entire planning system falls apart, which inevitably leads to housing delivery shortfalls at a national level. There has been a lot of talk regarding a significant overhaul of the current planning system but I am a big believer that many of the problems we see day to day that lead to frustration, could be fixed by simply resourcing the local authority departments who make the decisions better. That is not to say that some elements of the current system aren't crying out for a major overhaul (planning committees being one…) but I’ll leave that for another day!
What are you most excited about working on in the next year?
I seem to have developed a reputation among my colleagues that I attract some of the most bizarre / unique projects (weir removals, cement batching facilities, granny annexes and septic tanks to name a few…) so definitely more of those! I learnt early on in my career that you should never expect to know everything about planning and therefore you will always be learning (especially with annual updates to national planning policy…!!), which I see as a big positive in our profession. So really, any opportunity to learn about new sectors, new regulations, new permitting etc will get the planning nerd inside me excited!
