Consultants

Martha James obtained her planning degree in 1993 and her postgraduate diploma in Urban Planning in 1994, both from the University of Westminster. She has worked in a variety of local authority planning department roles, and became a chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 1999. She set up Plan Research in 2001, and was a professional advisor for the RTPI's Planning Aid service for seven years, from 2004 to 2011. This work involved personally advising more than five hundred clients per year, as well as organising training events for community groups and local councillors.

Martha specializes in agricultural diversification, educational buildings, sports provision, waste management sites, small to medium sized housing schemes and self-build projects. She also has considerable experience of enforcement cases, having represented clients to local authorities, solicitors, barristers and the Planning Inspectorate. Martha has represented or advised clients and local authorities at meetings with land owners, at the Magistrates Court and in High Court cases. She has liaised with local government bodies on barn conversion policy, farm diversification and other related rural issues.

Martha advises clients in the South-West and South-East of England, with extensive experience of the individual planning authorities in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and London.