A new planning manager has been appointed at Carden Group, as the strategic land business continues to expand.
Josh Plant is the latest edition to the Carden Group team. He has a background in planning policy and promotion, helping to shape robust strategies and drive development opportunities through the planning system.
Josh said: “Carden’s proactive, commercially driven approach to strategic land promotion strongly appealed to me. The opportunity to be directly involved in identifying and unlocking development opportunities, through a combination of policy and promotion work, alongside driving planning applications aligned perfectly with where I wanted my career to go next.
“Joining Carden also offered the chance to take on greater responsibility within a dynamic and ambitious business operating at the forefront of land promotion and development.”
Carden Group’s current portfolio includes land in Cheshire and Lancashire in the north, as well as land in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Devon and Somerset in the south.
A Chartered Town Planner (MRTPI), Josh has an MSc in Planning from the University of Manchester and before that studied Human Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University.
He joined Gladman Developments in 2018 as a graduate and progressed to senior planner, specialising in strategic land promotion, planning policy, and Local Plan engagement.
Josh went onto become an associate planner at Hive Land and Planning, leading on complex residential applications, regeneration projects and local authority-led schemes.
“At Carden Group, my focus is growing the pipeline of promoted sites, securing allocations through the Local Plan process, and helping deliver high-quality, sustainable developments that create long-term value for communities and stakeholders,” Josh, 29, who lives in Stockport, added.
“My career goal is to continue progressing within strategic land and development, taking a lead role in delivering complex projects and shaping planning strategies at a regional and national level.”
Challenges for Josh in his new role include “navigating an increasingly complex planning system, alongside viability pressures and evolving policy requirements, while still bringing sites forward efficiently” and managing a diverse portfolio of projects, varied in scale, complexity, and stage within the planning process.
Carden Group CEO Will Heath said: “Josh is a welcome addition to our team and will play an important role in helping us to progress sites through the planning system. He has a proven track record of leading projects to successful outcomes, including securing committee approvals on complex residential schemes, and has been involved in Local Plan Examinations in Public where he’s helped influence policy and unlock development opportunities.”
Carden Group has funding available to secure short, medium and longer-term development and strategic land opportunities via unconditional and condition purchase methods. Its funding model and industry-leading team of experts mean it’s primed to act quickly.
The business will consider parcels of land of 10-acres-plus, capable of delivering 100 to 750 homes. This includes land which may already have a draft or adopted planning status within a local plan or land not previously promoted for development.
