Nat Lichfield Celebratory Conference

A conference in memory and celebration of Nathaniel Lichfield has been organised by the Royal Town Planning Institute and University College London (UCL).

The event will take place at UCL on 23 October 2009, chaired by Sir Peter Hall, and will debate major issues facing UK planning and development in the light of a changing economic and social scene.

To express an interest, please email awards@rtpi.org.uk

An exciting expansion in challenging times.

Lichfield Planning has agreed to incorporate the ongoing work that was formerly being undertaken by Land and Development Consultants Limited following the decision by the LDC Managing Director, Steve Brown, to retire.  This decision means that we will be providing the high quality services we strive to deliver to a range of new clients across all sectors.  It also means that we have the ability to welcome Andy Booth, a well respected and very experienced planner, to our team as Associate.

Community Enterprise, South Common, Lincoln.

Having become aware of a very worthwhile community project being placed under threat, due to a lack of funding, we have decided to join forces with another well respected local consultancy to step in and help. A community project being led by the OnTarget@LincolnCity Study Support Centre to deliver an outdoor classroom and amenity facility is being sponsored by Lichfield Planning LLP and Delta Simons.  This sponsorship will make sure that the hard work put in by many and the opportunities that will arise pay dividends as the remaining materials can be now be purchased.  In celebrating our 10th Anniversary of opening an office in Lincoln it is good that we can mark this occasion with a worthwhile community initiative that will prove so beneficial to so many people both in its development and in its use once completed.  

Update:

Thanks to the support of Lichfield Planning and colleagues at Delta Simons students now have the basic resources to hand and are currently working on the prototypes for the furniture. As they are a totally new group this year, embarking on a two year programme, they needed time to be trained in the skills needed for this work. Consequently the progress with the construction is running slower than initially anticipated. We are looking forward to receiving an update early in the New Year.  This is an exciting social enterprise project and we must support the efforts that are being invested to ensure that the students are properly skilled and appropriately prepared to deliver a high quality and sustainable finished product for the local community.

Expanding our work in the Niger Delta

Lichfield Planning and Harcourt Adukeh Associates, our local partner in Nigeria, have been commissioned by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to prepare an Implementation Plan for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta Region and to facilitate demonstration projects focusing on growth pole development and the planning and design of business enterprise parks.

The contract follows our previous work with Harcourt Adukeh Associates when we assisted the NDDC with the preparation of the Niger Delta Regional Development Master Plan and the preparation of a sustainable development plan for 16 communities in the Egi, Rivers State, a major in-shore oil producing area, also in the Niger Delta.  

Over the next three years we will work closely with NDDC staff and other public, private and NGO stakeholders on plan preparation and capacity building programmes. Our aim is assist them in their pursuit of sustainable development to improve the quality of life in a Region that has enormous development potential and a huge determination on the part of its people to create the enabling conditions for that development.

26 Westgate win Thornton Firkin 5-a-side tournament

Lichfield Planning, Place Architecture and Design by Distraction combined to win the innagural Thornton Firkin 5-a-side tournament with a 2-0 win over Ward Cole in a closely contested final.

New Cemetery for Lincoln approved by City Council

At a meeting of the Full Council, a significant majority of City Councillors voted to ratify the decision previously made by its Planning Committee to provide a new cemetery on this 4 hectare site at Long Leys Road. Lichfield Planning led a team of consultants in the preparation of a design that will meet the operational requirements of a cemetery, address complex technical issues and provide a pleasant and attractive environment for all future users. The prolonged process involved detailed discussions with council officers, members of the public and other stakeholders.

SnOasis finally gets go-ahead

After a planning application process taking 4 years, the massive and highly adventurous SnOasis winter sports and leisure development near Ipswich has finally been given the go-ahead by the Department for Communities and Local Government – and it was Lichfield Planning that started the snow-ball rolling!
Focusing particularly on winter sports, the 300 acre development will include a 415 metres long, real-snow ski slope, nursery slope, bobsleigh run, ice-skating track, ice-climbing wall, cross-country skiing facilities and a ski village with hotel, conference centre and 350 log cabins. Development will focus on a disused quarry currently being used as a landfill site, with on-site use of the land-fill gases featuring as just part of a package of measure to minimise the development’s carbon footprint.

The scheme has grown out of an opportunity first identified by Lichfield Planning when the firm was commissioned by Mid Suffolk District Council to prepare regeneration proposals for three closely connected brown-field sites at Great Blakenham. Lichfield Planning’s work proposed a sustainable, mixed-use approach, including a business village, housing and a major leisure development of regional / national significance (now SnOasis), all supported by a new railway station providing the local community with improved transport links to nearby Ipswich as well as good access to the national rail network for the new development.

Supported by the British Olympic Association and a number of other national and regional organisations, SnOasis is due to open in 2011 and it is predicted that it will attract 750,000 visitors each year.

Masterplan for Lincolnshire Events Centre

Lichfield Planning has been appointed by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society to prepare a masterplan for the Lincolnshire Events Centre (Lincolnshire Showground), just north of Lincoln, off the A15. The plan is to set the framework for an ambitious development programme extending over at least 10 years and seeking to secure the Centre’s position as one of the premier events venues in the East Midlands and neighbouring regions. Taking a lead from the new Epic Centre, opening in time for this year’s Lincolnshire Show, the masterplan will focus on ecologically-sound development options, promoting Lincolnshire Events Centre as a national  exemplar of sustainable, rural development.

Hartlepool Borough Council has appointed Lichfield Planning to undertake a masterplan review.

Hartlepool Borough Council has appointed Lichfield Planning to undertake a masterplan review and prepare Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPD) for a 120 hectare, brown-field  site next to the town centre. Victoria Harbour offers major regeneration opportunities and its redevelopment is backed by One North East, English Partnerships and Hartlepool Borough Council. The principal land owner, PD Ports has been working on the project for several years with Tees Valley Regeneration and the Council has already resolved to grant outline planning permission for a master-plan-backed scheme, subject to satisfactory negotiation of a Section 106 agreement. The development proposals have now reached a stage at which the Borough Council wishes to prepare long-term guidance that will include a review of the masterplan, use and phasing guidelines and design guidance. Working with architects, Levitt Bernstein, Lichfield Planning will lead this project, aiming to have the SPD ready for adoption by Autumn this year. To engage the local community in this major scheme from the outset, it is intended to hold several “stakeholder workshops”  and a “Placecheck” review, all prior to formal  consultation.

Planning Committee votes unanimously in favour of Brayford Wharf North Hotel

The City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Committee voted unanimously in favour of the application to redevelop the Brayford Wharf North site at its meeting on 16th April.  This marks a positive point in the efforts to see major regeneration on this site and is testament to all of the hard work put in by the many people who have been involved. 

Lichfield Planning has become a Limited Liability Partnership