Basingstoke and Deane to seek legal adviser for planning on Manydown project

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has launched a tender for planning legal advice for the 840-hectare Manydown project.

The planning law tender comes days after a local authority kicked off a search for a law firm to provide property and commercial legal advice.

Basingstoke & Deane and Hampshire County Council are leaseholders for the land near Basingstoke. The two authorities are in the process of procuring a consortium of consultants to prepare a detailed masterplan.

This latest requirement relates to the commissioning of planning legal advice for the purpose of obtaining planning permission for the first phase of the project and, thereafter, on an on-going basis.

It is envisaged the planning legal advice service will cover:

• local plan processing, including examination in public;
• planning applications and associated documentation;
• neighbourhood plans;
• legal challenges.

Basingstoke & Deane said: “The advice required will need to be from the perspective of the councils as joint landowners and developers of the Manydown project.

“It is envisaged that the contract will operate for a period of between 3 to 5 years, but this may vary according to how, and the speed at which, the Manydown project progresses as a whole.”