Chartered Town Planners (MRTPI) with insider council experience — specialising in retrospective applications, enforcement responses and regularising unauthorised development across the UK.
Most planning consultancies treat retrospective applications as a sideline — an awkward problem to deal with between proper jobs. We don't. RPE was founded specifically to handle the cases other consultants would rather not touch: unauthorised development, enforcement notices, and the difficult conversations that follow.
Our founder spent years inside local planning authorities before moving into private practice. That insider perspective is the difference between an application that drifts and one that gets a decision — we know how case officers think, what evidence they need to say yes, and where the real risks of refusal sit.
Today we act for homeowners, landlords, small developers and rural businesses across the UK. Every case is handled personally by a Chartered Town Planner from start to finish.
RPE works on retrospective planning applications across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Every application is researched, written and submitted by a Chartered Town Planner who has read your case in full.
What makes us different is the time we have spent inside local planning authorities. Before moving into private practice, our planners worked as case officers in council planning departments. We have written delegated reports. We have stood at planning committee. We have negotiated with applicants and refused applications that didn't deserve permission. We know, from the other side of the desk, what makes a retrospective application work and what makes it fall apart.
That experience translates directly into your application. We frame the proposal the way the council needs to hear it, anticipate the objections an officer is likely to raise, and pre-empt them in the planning statement so they never become a reason for refusal.
We work with the same specialist research tools used by national planning consultancies — Compass, Planning Resource and LandTech — to identify comparable approvals, recent appeal decisions and case law that strengthens your case. Where a similar application has been approved nearby, we cite it. Where an inspector has decided a relevant point on appeal, we use it.
And because we work UK-wide, we are not tied to a single set of policies. Whether your case is in front of a London borough, a Welsh county council, a Scottish authority or a rural English district, we research the relevant Local Plan, the National Planning Policy Framework (or its devolved equivalent), and any supplementary guidance — before we put pen to paper.
Plain English, always. We don't hide behind planning jargon. Every report we send our clients is written so a non-planner can read it, understand it, and feel in control of their own case.
Retrospective planning is stressful enough without an open-ended bill at the end of it. RPE works on a fixed-fee basis with two simple tiers, both quoted in writing before any work begins.
If we don't think your case is approvable, we will tell you at the free assessment stage — before you've spent a penny. We would rather lose a fee than take on a case we can't see through to a sensible outcome.
Fees include drawings, planning statement, application form, submission and ongoing agent support to decision. Council application fees are passed through at cost.
RPE is led by Chartered Members of the Royal Town Planning Institute (MRTPI). Chartered status is not a marketing label — it is a regulated professional designation, awarded only to planners who have completed a recognised planning degree, demonstrated several years of professional experience, and passed a rigorous assessment of professional competence.
It also carries enforceable obligations. As Chartered planners, we are bound by the RTPI Code of Professional Conduct — the same set of rules that governs the largest planning consultancies in the country. We owe duties of integrity, competence, independence and honesty to every client we work with.
For you, as a client, that matters in three concrete ways:
The retrospective planning market is full of low-cost firms that run a high volume of cases through standard templates — same planning statement, same policy citations, same generic justification, with the address and a few site details changed. Councils spot it instantly, and so do enforcement officers.
RPE doesn't work that way. Every application we submit is written from scratch, by a named Chartered Town Planner, after a personal review of the site, the planning history and the relevant policy framework. We use research tools to support our thinking — we don't use anything to replace it.
Our planning statements are not generated by AI, and they are not stitched together from a clause library. They are professional documents, written by qualified planners, that say something specific about your specific case. That is why they tend to land where templated ones don't.
A complete retrospective planning service from a Chartered Town Planner. Below is exactly what we produce, research and submit on your behalf for your fixed fee — and the work we do once your application is in front of the council.
Every drawing your council needs to validate and determine your application — produced in-house as part of your fixed fee, to council submission standards.
A professional, policy-led document that argues for approval on the planning grounds councils are required to weigh. Researched and written by a Chartered Town Planner.
We research the cases and decisions that strengthen your application — the same intelligence the largest planning consultancies use. All included as standard.
Some applications need more than drawings and a planning statement. We tell you up front what your case requires, and we coordinate the third-party reports that have to come from specialists.
We complete every form, attach every document, and submit your application directly to the council via the Planning Portal — so you don't have to learn the system.
Submission is the start, not the end. We act as your registered planning agent throughout determination, dealing with the council on your behalf right up to the decision notice.
Before you spend a penny, a Chartered Town Planner reviews your case and tells you the truth about whether it's approvable. If we don't think the application can succeed, we'll say so — and we won't try to talk you into it.
Your case is handled by the same Chartered Town Planner from start to finish. You'll always know who you're speaking to, and your messages are answered the same working day.
We're regulated by the same professional rules as the largest planning consultancies in the country. Independent, evidence-led, and accountable.
Your case stays between you and your planner. We don't publish identifying details, and any case studies we write are anonymised so the property cannot be traced.
From instruction to a complete, ready-to-submit application package. Critical when an enforcement deadline is bearing down on you.
Our planning statements are professional documents the council needs to see — but everything we send you is written so a non-planner can read it, understand it, and feel in control of their own case.
Free assessment, no obligation, honest answers from a Chartered Town Planner.