Before establishing the PLANNING station, Darren held several planning posts in the public sector.
His career started in the mid-90s with a post as a Planning Technician, followed by posts as a Planning Enforcement Officer, Senior Enforcement Officer, and Monitoring and Enforcement Team Leader. His public sector career culminated in a role with a National Park Authority as a Compliance Team Leader. Thus, he has broad experience covering many aspects of the planning system. He was never pigeonholed, always looking for a new challenge.
He represented Local Planning Authorities in the planning application process, planning and enforcement appeals, Planning Committees, and the Magistrates’ Court. Darren was the lead officer in the Planning Service responsible for handling formal complaints, including those investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman.
The PLANNING station was established in 2009 and has traded successfully for many years. Since then, Darren has had many happy customers and receives a lot of repeat business. His excellent reviews are a testament to this.
Clients range from individuals with single projects to businesses with vast portfolios of projects.
Darren’s Vision was to help people with their planning concerns. He aimed to run a successful business. He aspired to be one of the best independent practitioners in England.
The PLANNING station has been in business for 15 years (2025) and has hundreds of happy customers. It also received a free index award and a No.1 ranking, which suggests that Darren’s Vision has been met.
His Values are to offer efficient and effective services. They pay particular attention to detail. They also produce an unprecedented quality of output for their cost.
Darren’s customer reviews show he offers a high quality service.
He cares about the cost of his services, and Darren’s customer reviews show they are excellent value for money.
Darren aims to tailor his responses to his customers’ needs and consistently exceed their expectations. His customer reviews show that he provides excellent service.
His Mission is to offer affordable, understandable, friendly, and accessible planning services.
These services are for all customers, regardless of whether they are individuals or businesses or the size of their planning issues.
Customer ratings suggest you can hold Darren to his Mission statement.
Darren is an associate member of the Royal Town Planning Institute. He will soon apply for Chartered membership, which is long overdue. (Doing the work gets in the way of getting accreditation for it!). He has indemnity insurance, which covers work at the level of a chartered member because of his extensive 30-year experience in the planning and development world.
He remains a National Association for Planning Enforcement (NAPE) member and is proud to have served on its Management Committee.
Darren was once a member of the Institute of Leadership and Management, ILM, and the Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors, CICES.
