Q&A: It's time to streamline planning system and cut down on the costly paperwork

We are still not out of the woods. Our office has certainly seen a pick-up in new enquiries and the dusting off of some old schemes over the last four months. We have even seen a number of these schemes progress through tender and onto site. However, these projects have been funded by major national or investment funds or wealthy cash-rich private individuals.

What is the best project you have been involved in?

The biggest kick is from the ones I am currently working on or just completed. To me, it's all about today and not the past.

Past schemes I'm proud of include headline buildings such as Scarborough Building Society headquarters or comparatively little wins such as persuading Hull planning committee, at a second attempt, to let my developer construct a small coffee and retail outlet.

Current ones include remodelling Meadowhall Oasis Food courts and looking at a complicated large, town-centre redevelopment.

What's your favourite building in the region and why?

I need room to wriggle, so let's broaden the scope and name the St Johns area of Wakefield. It's where I both live and work.

Fine, solid Georgian architecture with a complete and relatively unmolested full Georgian square; two fine churches, a five-minute walk to the mainline train station, with some great restaurants and bars on route.

If you could change one thing to improve the property industry in the region what would it be?

The planning system needs to change. It needs streamlining and it needs to offer the developer a degree of certainty to pursue an application. The ever-growing list of documents and reports needed to support any application is both costly and time-consuming.

Who has inspired you?

It has to be my early mentor, John Miller Harris. He founded the company and I joined him as a young naive student architect in his three-room, sub-let office, next to Wakefield station. He is a larger-than-life character and a Yorkshire man to the core. He gave me opportunities that were beyond my years and experience.

He once told me: "I pay you to make decisions, simple as that. Mind you, make sure that 99 per cent of them are right and you'll get on."