Mike Carpenter

Mike has over 35 years experience in the public and private sectors and continues to work now with as much enthusiasm for the profession of planning and fulfilling client requirements as he did when he first qualified.

Following several years as a planning officer with South Norfolk Council and as a planning consultant with Peter PC Allan in Edinburgh, Mike established Carpenter Planning Consultants Ltd in Norwich in 1990 and developed an impressive reputation for proactive advice and implementation of carefully structured and orchestrated planning strategies.

Following the development of Carpenter Planning Consultants with offices in Norwich, Manchester and Chelmsford and its merger with Bidwells in 2004, Mike led the Bidwells Planning Division in its expansion throughout the East of England and joined the Bidwells Main Board in 2006. Mike’s enthusiasm and passion for planning and client service led him in 2013, with Helen Adcock, to focus on servicing client requirements directly and establish CODE Development Planners.

Mike is retained by an impressive list of clients who have sought advice and action on a wide variety of schemes throughout the country. Mike’s track record has seen the achievement of successful planning permissions for developments ranging from major residential schemes, retail parks, warehouse parks, research and development parks, general employment parks, hospitals, care homes, retirement villages, fish farms, golf courses, leisure parks and burial sites, throughout the UK.

Specific examples include the 45ha retail and business park at Longwater, Norwich, the 160,000sqm extension to Addenbrookes Hospital and Bio-medical Campus in Cambridge, the c3,000 home Southern Fringe expansion of Cambridge, the 90ha Kingswood Lakeside warehouse Park Cannock, woodland burial sites in Epping, Norwich, Cannock and Beaconsfield, a 12 storey tower redevelopment in Southend, redevelopment of Darenth Park Hospital in Barking, the 100,000sqm R&D expansion of the Norwich Research Park, the relocated Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, the further R&D expansion of Babraham Institute, Cambridge and major residential schemes in Maldon, Brentwood, Cheshunt, Ipswich, Bedford and Norwich.

Mike and Helen led the Promoter team in the successful and multi-award winning mixed use 2,000 home extension to Martlesham now known as Brightwell Lakes directly adjacent to BT’s research station at Adastral Park. Mike and Helen have also been responsible for leading the team who successfully obtained the draft allocation of a 4,000 home new garden village at Dunton in the borough of Brentwood. Mike represents clients regularly at Section 78 appeal inquiries and Local Plan EiP’s but his particular focus, in line with that of CODE’s ethos, is on negotiating successful and viable schemes with local planning authorities without the need to resort to any appeal processes.