Berwin Leighton Paisner voted top planning firm

CULTURE CLASH: more work for specialist firms which adapt

Berwin Leighton Paisner has been voted top dog for planning work by fellow lawyers and consultants for the fifth year running - and has suggested that firms operating in the field will have to make major changes if proposals to overhaul the system go ahead.

The warning came after the City firm clinched the overall number one ranking from 150 responses to Planning magazine's annual survey, closely followed by Leeds niche firm Wilbraham & Co in second place - which came out as solicitors' favourite - and Denton Wilde Sapte in third.

Eversheds came in fourth with Ashurst Morris Crisp fifth.

Also retaining last year's title was Peter Wilbraham, voted top individual planning solicitor for the fourth year in a row, both overall and by his solicitor peers.

Denton Wilde Sapte's Stephen Ashworth came in second, with Simon Ricketts from SJ Berwin jumping ten places on last year to come in third.

Forsters' Michael Cunliffe - who was not rated at all in 2001 - swooped in to clinch joint fourth place with Lovells' Michael Gallimore.

Tim Pugh, Berwin Leighton Paisner's co-head of planning and environment, said specialists in the field could be set to enjoy more work if plans in the planning green paper are carried through - but only if firms are prepared to undergo a culture change.

'This will mean accepting that developers must work more closely with local planning authorities, and making changes to reflect a shift in planning obligations away from negotiated agreements - which is the way things are done now - to a mixture of negotiation and fixed tariffs,' he predicted.

'It is also likely that planning authorities will be encouraged to work with local communities, leading to more pre-application planning work and more selling of proposals once the application is in.'

Paula Rohan