The Founders
Roland Bolton
Roland has held senior positions in local government, academia and private consultancy. He has worked for Local Authorities from North Yorkshire to the South East. His Local Authority experience was as head of local plans at the then Rochester City where he produced the first Medway Towns local plan.
Founding the office for DLP in Sheffield in 1996 he grew this to be the largest planning consultancy in South Yorkshire before moving onto to form within DLP the Strategic Planning Research Unit (SPRU). SPRU became specialist team providing research and specialist evidence to support the wider company across a range of matters.
Roland’s wide ranging career encompasses working on small bespoke projects to successfully promoting strategic projects like the Eastern Expansion of Milton Keynes (the Strategic Reserve 3,500 dwelling), Sheffield Student Village (for University of Sheffield 3,000 new student beds across 3 conservation areas), Junction 16 on the M1 for Warehousing (now Panattoni Park) and AMRC Factory 2050 (Green Belt Release for University of Sheffield).
Roland has a widely recognised expertise in demographic, housing and economic modelling and impact assessment. He has constructed his own bespoke models and is also conversant with the POPGROUP and Chelmer Models. He has also developed the Older Persons Housing Model for SPRU/DLP as well as models to measure the Economic Impact of development.
Roland has also given evidence to the Older Persons Housing Task Force and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Aging and Older People which considered the interface of these issues with the planning system.
Roland is an experienced and well respected researcher and has been the lead author of the following research reports
“Local Plan Preparation: Barriers and Opportunities” for the RTPI on the constraints to development plan production
https://www.rtpi.org.uk/media/15954/101823g5143psrtpi-local-plan-research.pdf
“Trends in older persons housing” for DLUCH on how applications for older persons housing fair in the Development Management system
“Housing: The unintended contraceptive” LPDF on the impact of rising house prices on fertility
Roland has extensive experience of appearing as an expert witness at planning inquiries, examinations in public, court hearings and the land tribunals.
Roland, Neil and Simon have also contributed to a wider understanding of the planning process through training, lectures and discussions for a wide variety of events, including structured CPD, and have also taken part in Member training
Simon James
Simon has been involved in town planning since 1981 having worked for a number of local planning authorities, at both County and District Council levels, in South Wales, Southern and Southeastern England.
In late 1987, Simon took up the position of Planning Director with a PLC land promotion and property investment company before establishing, in 1991, Development Land and Planning Consultants Ltd, which later grew to become the DLP Consulting Group Ltd (DLP) and encompassed a range of related disciplines.
Simon provided advice to a wide array of clients in the public and private sectors, including government departments and executive boards (Ministry of Defence and Crown Estate), local government, the Church Commissioners and various Diocesan Boards, national, regional, local house builders and developers, private companies, charitable bodies, financial institutions, landowners, private estates (Duchy of Lancaster), as well as individual members of the public and community groups and organisations.
Simon experience encompasses policy preparation, development advocacy and control, design and built heritage, and environmental assessment.
Simon is a highly experienced expert witness, having given evidence before a range of tribunals including public local inquiries and hearings, examinations in public, the Lands Tribunal and the High Court.
Neil Osborn
Neil has over 40 years of experience in planning, both in the public and private sector.
Neil regularly advises clients on planning issues relating to a range of diverse projects including sustainable urban extensions and, large scale industrial and regeneration schemes often working jointly with Roland to promote development through local plans or at appeal. In recent years he has specialised in renewable energy projects everywhere from Cornwall to Scotland
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