Plan making research, guidance and support
Plan In works with organisation involved in the development of Local Plans or Spatial Development Strategies across England.
Plan In is a plan-making practice. We do two things: we develop research and guidance on plan-making, and we work directly with local authority teams.
We are also making plans. We write spatial strategies, build and test evidence bases, prepare sustainability appraisals and take plans through publication, submission and examination. We typically work on plans that have become difficult for technical, political, resourcing or wider corporate reasons.That is why the guidance we write is practical, and why the advice we give teams comes from having made the same judgements ourselves.
Research and guidance
We write practice guidance and research on plan-making for government, agencies, professional bodies and local authorities. Our most recent published work is national guidance for the Planning Advisory Service on how authority leadership teams can improve infrastructure planning governance and make better use of developer contributions.
Our current research focus is infrastructure planning and viability, developing the evidence base, healthy planning, local government reorganisation, and the relationship between local plans and spatial development strategies.
Please get in touch using our contact page if you would like to commission production of research or guidance.
Plan Room
Plan Room is a facilitated session for a local authority plan-making team working through a single problem whether technical, resource or process related. Sometimes the evidence will not resolve on its own, sometimes the decision is clear but its consequences are not, and sometimes the team simply cannot agree.
The session is facilitated rather than directed, but it is led by someone who knows the subject, so you get an expert view as well as a structured discussion.
Testimonials
"I worked with Sara in 2024 when she was providing strategic planning support to the authority. What stood out was her ability to get people working together who hadn't previously found it easy to do so, facilitating joint working with real skill, maintaining the energy of the project and keeping everyone focused on a shared outcome. This allowed co production of content on a complex policy issue. Sara builds trust quickly across teams and delivers. I would recommend her without hesitation.”
- Local Authority Chief Planner, Midlands, UK
"Sara worked with us in 2023 and her contribution to our area action plan was exceptional. She helped to redesign and lead a community event that brought together a genuinely diverse range of voices and created the conditions for real engagement. Alongside that, she built consensus corporately — navigating internal complexity with patience and authority. Sara understands how organisations work and how to move people toward agreement. She is exactly the kind of consultant you want on a complex, politically sensitive piece of work.”
- Senior Planner, London, UK