MARKETSSTAGE / Intelligence
Planning Due Diligence Before Acquisition.
Before committing capital, establish what the planning position supports — and what still stands between the asset and implementation.
Start with the acquisition decision.
A site can be offered with an attractive development narrative while the route to implementation remains unresolved. For a developer, lender, family office or asset manager, that gap can affect the capital committed, the programme and the assumptions behind the price.
The review should begin with the intended decision: acquire, fund, promote, reposition or investigate further. Establish what the planning records support, what depends on future consent and which unanswered questions could change the investment proposition.
Establish what the permission actually allows.
Read the decision notice alongside the approved drawings and subsequent decisions. Establish whether permission is full or outline, what reserved matters remain, and whether the scheme being offered matches the authorised development.
Check the relevant time limits and any evidence relied on to show lawful commencement. Visible work on site does not, by itself, establish that a permission has been implemented lawfully. Review the facts and applicable requirements with the relevant advisers; where appropriate, consider whether a lawful development certificate would help establish the planning position.
That certificate concerns planning lawfulness. It does not replace other approvals, licensing or regulatory requirements that may apply to the asset.
Find what could prevent implementation.
Translate the conditions into a delivery sequence. Identify requirements before commencement, before occupation and at later stages, together with the approvals, investigations and discharge decisions already available. A list of conditions is less useful than knowing which requirement controls the next step.
Access works, drainage, utilities or other infrastructure may depend on land or actions beyond the site. Bring those dependencies into the acquisition review and coordinate the planning assessment with legal, engineering and environmental advice. Missing information should become a defined investigation, with an owner and an implication for the programme.
Bring obligations into the transaction.
Planning obligations under section 106 run with the land. Review the agreements and any variations with the transaction’s legal advisers, identifying relevant commitments, triggers and outstanding requirements rather than assuming a new owner starts with a clean position.
Where Community Infrastructure Levy applies, review the liability and demand notices, who has assumed liability, any transfer arrangements, and the evidence supporting relief or exemptions. Commencement procedures also matter. The planning, legal and commercial teams should agree what the records mean for the acquisition and delivery assumptions.
Test the development proposition.
An existing permission and a future opportunity are different parts of the appraisal. Test a proposed redesign, expansion or alternative use against site constraints, planning policy, access and the specialist evidence needed. A compelling visualisation should communicate a proposition supported by that work.
STAGE leads the planning strategy and masterplanning, runs the project and coordinates the required professional team. The brief connects design, surveys and technical investigations with the client’s decision, reducing the burden of managing separate commissions and contradictory assumptions.
Give the acquisition team a decision brief.
The useful output is a clear record of the evidence, the unresolved issue, its potential effect on capital or programme, the responsible adviser and the action needed before commitment. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions and explain which findings could change the proposed transaction.
That brief may support further investigation, a revised masterplan, different acquisition assumptions or a defined route toward consent and implementation. One strategy. One team. One point of contact — with the remaining uncertainty visible and the next decision clear.
Planning context
- Making an application — GOV.UK (England)
- Use of planning conditions — GOV.UK (England)
- Lawful development certificates — GOV.UK (England)
- Planning obligations — GOV.UK (England)
- Community Infrastructure Levy — GOV.UK (England and Wales)
These sources relate to England. The relevant national and local planning context should be considered for each site.
Complex asset. Unclear planning position.
A decision that needs a strategy.