Chave Planning was founded by Caroline Chave, a Chartered Town Planner who started her planning career in 1999 in the solid foundations of local government. Spending several years in local authority Development Control at Rushcliffe Borough Council, working up the ranks to a senior post, Caroline got to know the inner workings of local authorities. This places her in a great position to deal with local authorities and to negotiate with them from a position of understanding.

Caroline left local government in 2006, tempted by a career in consultancy, where her positive approach could flourish outside the confines of local government. Over several years working for Capita Symonds (formerly Andrew Martin Associates) and Caulmert, she led some major projects through the planning process. Caroline specialises in strategic residential planning and has managed the planning process for urban extensions of thousands of new homes. However her determined and personable approach applies equally to small projects for one-off dwellings. Caroline has also worked on a wide variety of projects aside from residential, including business parks, retail, wind energy, agriculture, minerals and waste. Here’s a selection of her successful projects:

• Securing resolution to grant outline planning permission for an urban extension of 200 dwellings at Somercotes, Derbyshire. Resolution was achieved in December 2017, within a year of first instruction from the landowner client.
• Successful promotion of a site for 150 dwellings at Redhill, Nottinghamshire, securing release from the Green Belt in the emerging Local Plan.
• Provision of a supporting planning policy statement for a proposed retail development in the Nottinghamshire countryside, turning officer resistance into support for the proposal and securing planning permission.
• Achieving the allocation of land for 110 dwellings at Kegworth in the North West Leicestershire Local Plan.
• Successfully making the case for very special circumstances to allow a new industrial building in the Nottinghamshire Green Belt.
• Following gaining outline planning permission for 36 dwellings on a greenfield site at Donisthorpe, Leicestershire, negotiation of the s106 agreement to deliver the affordable housing requirement as an off-site contribution.
• Dealing with issues of loss of employment land and developing adjacent to a COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) site in Widnes to achieve planning permission for 131 dwellings.
• Co-ordination of project across three sites in the village of Diseworth involving relocation of farming activities from two sites in the village to one new site on the edge of the village, with a new agricultural dwelling. Planning permission was obtained for the old farm sites to be redeveloped and their buildings converted for housing, dealing with Conservation Area and flooding issues.
• Securing outline planning permission for an urban extension of 400 dwellings, a primary school, medical centre, care home and convenience store on a greenfield site at Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire.
• Involvement in examination of Core Strategy, promoting mixed use site including 1,000 dwellings, securing identification as a Strategic Development Area in the Core Strategy.