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When Chris Weetman joined planning and design consultancy MPSL from St Helen鈥檚 council in July, the move raised a few eyebrows among his former colleagues.

The head of building and planning control was giving up a 22-year career in the public sector to become managing director of the planning division of a design firm that specialised in housing, and which at that point had not had a single qualified town planner on its payroll.

Two months on from Weetman鈥檚 appointment, the reaction would be somewhat different. With its planning division up and running, Manchester-based MPSL can offer clients a one-stop shop for the submission of planning applications, masterplanning, Urban Design and architecture. This means its customers do not have to employ a one-man planning adviser on projects that are too small for a large planning consultancy.

The service has caught the eye of some of the UK鈥檚 biggest contractors. MPSL is working with Taylor Woodrow on a stadium for St Helen鈥檚 rugby league club. It is also about to submit an application on Taywood鈥檚 behalf for a residential scheme on the club鈥檚 ground, as part of a three-phase scheme to relocate the stadium. MPSL also counts Bellway, Persimmon, Westbury and Bovis Homes among its clients.

Weetman says demand for MPSL鈥檚 services has increased since the planning division was launched. 鈥淪ome clients are slightly wary of using our full service as they already have pet consultants on board, but there is definitely a growing demand for using our services as a full package.

鈥淎 lot of our repeat clients are saying for their next scheme they will use us from the start to the finish of the planning process.鈥�

A lot of our repeat clients say they will use us from start to finish of planning

Chris Weetman, MPSL

Part of the reason for MPSL鈥檚 expanding workload is that section 42 of the 2004 Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act, which came into force on 10 August, requires all planning applications to be accompanied by design and access statements. The former explain how the design of a scheme takes into account its surroundings and the latter describe how the design complies with the Disability Discrimination Act.

鈥淚t鈥檚 opened a whole realm of extra bureaucracy,鈥� says Weetman. 鈥淭he advantage we can offer is that we鈥檙e involved at the design stage, so we already have the information we need to comply with the statements.鈥�

The growth of its planning services is the first big change introduced at family-run MPSL since it was set up five years ago. But with 50-60% of workload coming from new clients, rather than repeat customers, it is looking to grow further. The firm broke the 拢1m turnover mark for the first time last year and is now looking to increase its focus on sustainability and the retail and commercial sectors.

MPSL is also looking to expand into other parts of northern England. Its current projects are located in Doncaster, Liverpool, Bradford, Leeds and Greater Manchester, but the firm is targeting work in what Weetman calls the 鈥渄ark mills鈥� of Burnley and Blackburn.

鈥淲e鈥檙e targeting the areas of the North where we have gaps, and starting a marketing campaign in those locations,鈥� says Weetman. 鈥淥ften people stumble across companies and if they get what they want, they will go back.鈥�

MPSL could also be prepared to venture south. 鈥淚t is something we鈥檇 consider, on a project-by-project basis,鈥� says Weetman. 鈥淚f a client said it had acquired some land and wanted to work with us, it wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be a problem.鈥�