There is nothing more satisfying than devising a planning strategy at the outset of a project and executing it successfully, including dealing with all of the unknowns along the way.
Martin Miller
Martin joined the company in 1995 and has significant experience of delivering planning permissions for a wide variety of development including strategic housing and commercial developments. He has a proven track record of securing local plan allocations, delivering consents in green belt locations and giving evidence at public inquiries.
Martin's Projects
Archer’s Gate/King’s Gate
I got involved with the promotion of this strategic development for Bloor Homes and Persimmon Homes soon after joining the company in 1995. It was my first strategic land promotion and my involvement has only recently ended after twenty years of work. I was responsible for securing the site’s allocation for residential development in four successive local plans, shaping the site masterplan following discussions with Amesbury Town Council and Salisbury District Council officers and dealing with numerous planning issues, including the discovery of the grave of the Amesbury Archer. In total, I secured five major outline planning permissions for just over 1,800 residential dwellings and a range of community facilities and it has been a privilege watching our plans emerge from the ground and hearing compliments about the place that has been created from people who now live there.
Longforth Farm
This is one of my favourite housing developments because of the number of obstacles that we overcame in order to secure planning permission for a development that was widely supported by the local community. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, policies for the site’s development were de-allocated from two local plans due to high agricultural land quality issues. However, when government policy changed, we secured an allocation for around 900 homes and infrastructure in the Taunton Deane Core Strategy (September 2012). Outline planning permission for up to 501 dwellings at the site was secured shortly after having successfully mitigated the impact of the development on protected trees, a range of protected species including a Barbastelle bat maternity roost, the landscape and a number of heritage assets. Bloor Homes completed the construction of 430 dwellings in 2020.
St. Ives Country Care
This is my favourite care village. Care South purchased the former 23 bed St. Ives Care Home near Ringwood with the intention of redeveloping the site with a 60-bed care home, 14 close care apartments and four close care cottages, together with a new vehicular access. Working alongside Carless & Adams, we provided planning and heritage advice and helped shape a village offering specialist nursing, residential and dementia care in an attractive sylvan setting. We demonstrated to East Dorset District Council that the former care home was not a heritage asset and could be demolished, that the proposed development was a C2 development and that the removal of 65 protected trees could be mitigated. The care village opened in 2017 and was one of three finalists in the Best Care Facility category at the Pinders Healthcare Design Awards 2018.