Winter update from Richborough Estates’ eastern division managing director

I get to this time of year and amongst the pressure and chaos of juggling school plays, Christmas shopping, the approaching year-end (should have said that first – sorry Paul!), the office party and having to be here, there, and everywhere, I always end up wondering: how is it that time already ?!

A wise landowner recently explained to me that the reason for this is because I’ve had more years than I did last and I have one less going forwards – very simple really! Whilst I do think there is some truth in that I also believe that this year in particular, in what for many of us has really been a recovery from 2020 (he says whilst praying for no further lock downs) has been busier than ever. To paraphrase the old saying: Time flies when you’re working really hard!

This year the eastern division has tied up more new deals than ever before, including opportunities in Hinckley and Bosworth; Nuneaton and Bedworth; Northwest Leicestershire, Harborough, Derbyshire Dales, Amber Valley, Coventry, Central Bedfordshire, Vale of White Horse, Cherwell, Wokingham, Sevenoaks, and Thurrock. We continue to actively invest in the pipeline, with several further new deals in advanced legal negotiations, and the team constantly on the lookout for additional new opportunities.

As always, the challenges of navigating the planning system are never far from our thoughts. It’s been a year of highs and lows with sites that we thought would get through the system proving more challenging, and others that we thought would be more challenging getting through. A clear sign of the irrational system within which we operate on a daily basis. And of course, it wouldn’t be a year working in the land promotion sector without the odd appeal thrown into the mix. We very disappointingly lost earlier in the year in Central Bedfordshire despite having an excellent site, scheme, and professional team behind us. But we’re a tenacious bunch at Richborough Estates and are well known for not giving up on sites, so it won’t be the end of that story particular for us. Hopefully, as part of next year’s round up I will re-visit this site more positively. We also await the outcome of an appeal in South Northants and have another inquiry opening in December and closing before Christmas (or to be more precise, just in time for our Christmas party!).

Whilst we are not afraid to take on an appeal where its appropriate for us to do so, our preference is to always work collaboratively with our Local Authority partners and to this end we have secured several draft allocations over the year, further advancing our ever-maturing pipeline, and have also secured planning permissions in Hinckley and Bosworth and Dover District in recent months. We also have applications in and running in Charnwood, Tewksbury, and Cherwell with applications going in over the course of the next few months in Hinckley and Bosworth, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Solihull, Coventry, Malvern, Cherwell, and Dover District.

And we are delighted to have, or are in the process of securing, development partners to deliver sites in Charnwood, South Northamptonshire, Hinckley and Bosworth and Dover. During 2022 we will  be looking for further delivery partners for the planning pipeline set out above.

To assist with delivering the above portfolio we are delighted to have Richard Lomas as our new Planning Director for the Division and Katie Saunders as Assistant Land and Planning Manager. Richard has previously worked with Richborough in a consultancy capacity and brings a wealth of experience to the role. Katie, having recently graduated from Loughborough University with a first-class honours degree, adds support to the South East and Central Teams. Congratulations also to Briony Stenhouse who earned a well-deserved promotion earlier in the year to Land and Planning Manager in the east team. Briony has been with us for just over three years and is adding significant value to the east region both in terms of securing new deals and managing the existing portfolio.

Nothing in this life and industry is certain, but I’m confident that 2022 is going to be another busy year for everyone at Richborough. Our people across the two divisions and our supporting Design, Technical and Finance functions make the best team in the industry, and I would like to thank them all for their work this year.

I’d like to wishing everyone a merry, restful, and well-deserved festive break and look forward to 2022.