The Terrapin Group

We wish you a Terrapin New Year...

ALERT FOR DEVELOPERS WITH SCHEMES IN LONDON … 2025 is going to be a crucial year for planning in Greater London. With elections in May 2026, it is critical to get your scheme to committee by the end of the year, which in reality means the November planning committee. Why? Because as of 1st January 2026, local politics will take over. Councillors will be focused on only one thing - holding their seats. Council leaders will have a similar focus - retaining control. The political environment will become even more challenging!😎 So it is essential that developers have a razor like focus on ensuring their schemes get to committee on time. Nobody understands the politics of planning in London better than Team Terrapin. Our success rate of getting planning consents for clients is second to none. In 2025, developers cannot afford slippage. It will prove very costly in terms of both time and money. In some boroughs, there is a strong probability of political change. Developers need to be ahead of the game and aware of what political change will mean for their scheme. Important to call it right. Team Terrapin can help … Team Terrapin understands our role is to deliver commercial gain. In 2025, this means using our experience and political networks to get schemes approved by the end of the year. A really important year … Team Terrapin : Best in class. Best fun … 🐢🐢🐢

Bingle Bells! 🎅 👇 😲 Delivering planning approvals, all year round... 📅 🐢

The Terrapin Group was proud to help MMC Homebuilding put on an event that saw the opening of a cluster of new temporary-accommodation housing built by modern methods of construction to Bristol.   On Thursday 28th November, a cluster of landmark modern methods of construction developments were opened in Bristol by The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Bristol, Cllr Andrew Varney. The event, attended by Leader of the Council, Cllr Tony Dyer and the Chief Executive of MMC Homebuilding, Angus Fraser, marked a special moment for both the Council and housebuilder.   The developments were designed in collaboration with Bristol City Council in order to help meet the rising housing needs of local homeless families needing temporary accommodation. The developments are utilising MMC Homebuilding’s flagship portable optimised dwellings product (PODs), which are a permanent-built relocatable range for temporary accommodation buildings, produced off-site with modern methods of construction.   A key component of the MMC Homebuilding temporary accommodation solution is that the homes are leased to Bristol City Council meaning there are no capital costs to receive the new housing. The land for all of the sites is owned by Bristol City Council. As well as providing improved accommodation, it will also reduce the need for expensive short-term hotel rooms.   The homes are designed to provide over sixty years of durable, reliable living spaces and hold the industry leading BOPAS certification. They are made with eco-friendly materials and have flexibility and customisable aesthetics. The developments in Bristol have been built in collaboration with the Prisoners Building Homes Programme, whereby local prisoners on day release, and ex-prisoners work on the construction and delivery of the homes.   This is the start of a new journey for MMC Homebuilding, as it seeks to bring its temporary accommodation solution to transform the market. MMC Homebuilding are already actively involved in conversations with several other local authorities in England and Greater London.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) latest report on infrastructure payments makes fascinating reading. The new HBF research estimates local authorities (England & Wales) have yet to spend over £6billion from Section 106 agreements and almost £2billion raised through CIL. The report breaks down the figures to highlight each of the authorities with the highest amounts of unspent contributions under issues such as Affordable Housing, Highways, Education and Health contributions. Oxfordshire are top with £287m unspent developer contributions. The City of London Corporation top the unspent Affordable Housing contributions chart, with Wokingham BC coming second with £41m. A particular finding that catches the eye is that 26% of unspent Section 106 contributions have been held longer than five years. No doubt there are a multitude of reasons for many of these figures, and hopefully this HBF research will spur the named local authorities to come out and explain the reasoning behind the seemingly long delays. Maybe, with the long delays that developers suffer in the planning system, these sorts of timeframes shouldn’t come as a surprise? Check out the full report and various lists on the HBF website.

A nice way to finish the week with a planning approval at Hertsmere Borough Council for one of our clients. Councillors gave approval for the housing application that sought an extra floor on top of a previously approved application, on what is a tight site. Despite some initial concerns about the extra height and the design, councillors were impressed with the work done by the client team and officers, in coming up with a scheme that protected residents living in neighbouring houses. Much work was done to ensure councillors had all of the information (a substantial amount) in an easy to understand way, so that they could be happy to give approval to the new larger housing scheme. Get in touch if you would like to discuss a scheme in Hertsmere, or anywhere else…

It’s The Terrapin Group’s 12th Birthday! Along with recent celebrations for helping our lovely clients gain planning permission at places like Sevenoaks, Southwark, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, Hounslow and Kensington & Chelsea – Team Terrapin is celebrating completing another successful year. Director, Peter Bingle said: “Twelve years ago, in the wonderful setting of the RSA, the Terrapin Group was launched. Initially using our conservatory as our office, Team Terrapin has become a leading player in the property communications sector. Liz and I want to say thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey. The best is still to come.” We look forward to the next year (or 12) with great excitement. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss any projects you are working on. Team Terrapin. Best in class. Best fun… #localgovernment #localauthority #planningapproval #planningapplication #publicaffairs #consultation #politicalcommunications #nationalpolitics

Two questions : What makes a great consultancy? Why is Terrapin different? Having run the largest public affairs agency (Bell Pottinger) for twelve years, I came to understand that the trick is to employ the best consultants, to consistently deliver outstanding results and (crucially) to understand your clients’ businesses. The key role for a consultancy is to deliver added value. Over the years, it has also become clear that clients like to work with consultants who they like. Hence Team Terrapin’s mantra : Best in class. Best fun! 🐢🐢🐢 In the world of property and development, Team Terrapin brings something very special and possibly unique to the party. In addition to our extensive consultation and communication expertise, we also deploy our experience of local government and our unsurpassed political networks for the benefits of our clients. Our aim is always to derisk a scheme at the start of the planning process …😎 Too many developers and house builders are surprised when their schemes are refused. Yet, there should never be any surprises at a planning committee. Before any application is submitted there must always be extensive engagement with all the key players including the senior politicians. Once the planning application is submitted, there should be no surprises. So to answer my two opening questions. What defines a great consultancy is an approach and delivery which always exceeds the expectation of clients. Team Terrapin is different because we insert political knowledge and expertise into the planning process. If all of this makes sense, please get in touch with me at : peter.bingle@terrapingroup.co.uk

💰 💹 Bingle on the Budget! 👇

A really well thought through planning application. Great to see the councillors appreciate all the hard work that took place in order to get it to committee. It was a pleasure being involved. 👍