Congratulations to Emily - what an achievement!

Emily has just completed her Masters Degree in Spatial Planning and will be graduating having achieved a distinction. Her research project was on Class Q, ten years on - a review of the agricultural to residential permitted development right in England

Her dissertation was extremely well-received, indeed, she won the Barton Willmore prize for the best individual study on the degree programme.  Furthermore, both her tutor and one of the assessors indicated that the research was sufficiently significant as to merit publication.  Indeed, the assessor stated the core findings are novel and of immediate professional and academic interest worthy of publication and/or publicity in an academic or professional journal.

Her findings were fascinating and go some way to explain the inconsistency of approach across the country by local authorities. It would appear that officers are failing to properly assess and determine Class Q applications. I don’t think that this will be much of a surprise to those of us who work in the industry but to see such compelling evidence demonstrating this was pretty astounding. I will leave it to Emily to give a more in-depth review of her work.

I am extremely proud of her achievement. Emily has been a fantastic asset to the team and continues to go from strength to strength. Great work!