Following a significant increase in demand for its planning services, Marrons has grown its Midlands teams with a duo of hires.
Planning director Megan Wilson and senior planner James Lloyd have joined the planning, design and development consultancy in Nottingham and Birmingham respectively, further expanding its national reach.
With more than 10 years’ experience, Megan has joined Marrons from DLP Planning where she was an associate director working within its strategic planning research unit. Megan started her career at Gladman, working her way up from graduate to senior planning before moving to AMS Planning and Avant Homes.
Specialising in medium to large scale strategic development and with a particular interest in housing land supply and housing needs, in her new role, Megan will be supporting the allocation of sites through the local plan process and preparing planning applications for residential-led development proposals, including complex brownfield sites and land within the green belt.
Megan – who is chair of the Royal Town Planning Institute’s East Midlands Young Planners Committee – said: “Marrons is a very progressive and well-respected consultancy, with a particular interest in strategic land. The recent growth is testament to the wider ethos and growth aspirations, which I am very excited to be involved in.
“I am particularly keen to work on larger strategic developments, including garden settlements and sustainable urban extensions. I am hoping to expand Marrons geographical reach, expanding north into Yorkshire and growing the existing offering in the South East.
“The multidisciplinary element is also particularly appealing to me, and I am looking forward to working with the masterplanning and heritage teams in particular. I am passionate about demonstrating the socio-economic benefits of housing development and showing how strategic residential-led development can deliver not just much-needed housing, but infrastructure such as schools, care, health facilities and employment opportunities. As such, creating new self-sufficient communities is my favourite area of work.”
James has joined Marrons from CT Planning, where he spent the past eight years as a senior planner working on residential and commercial projects in both an urban and rural context. Prior to this, James was a planning officer at Lichfield District Council, managing a caseload of more than 70 applications on average, varying from lawful development certificates, householder development, change of use applications, advertisement consent and listed building consent.
In his new role, James will be advising clients on strategy, carrying out site appraisals, and preparing, submitting and managing a wide range of planning applications.
James said: “Marrons is a highly regarded and growing planning consultancy with a great reputation. I am looking forward to working with clients to develop interesting projects and working collaboratively to achieve their goal by advising on suitable strategies and helping navigate through the complex planning system.”
Marrons will also be welcoming three graduate planners this year in Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon and Leicester. They will be completing a fully-funded RTPI-accredited Chartered Town Planning Level 7 Masters degree apprenticeship at the University of Birmingham alongside gaining practical experience working alongside Marrons’ team of experienced and skilled town planners and with national housebuilders, land promoters and landowners.
Andrew Gore, partner at Marrons, said: “The national development market remains active and there has been a significant increase in demand for our multi-disciplinary services due to our high success rate in achieving planning permissions and allocations for our clients.
“We are thrilled to welcome Megan and James to the team, and we are looking forward to expanding our graduate programme in the summer with three new arrivals. We have significant growth plans in the business, and all will help support our ever-expanding client base across the Midlands and beyond. Their invaluable experience and expertise will strengthen the team, and bring new ideas and skills to unlock sites.”
