About Us
The Rural Planning Group is a professional planning practice established by Patrick and Emma Griffin. Together, Patrick and Emma have significant planning experience in both the public and private sectors of planning in the South East and London. Our mission is to provide accessible and honest rural planning advice to all.
Emma Griffin BA(hons) MA MRTPI
Director
emma@ruralpg.com
Emma is a Chartered Town Planner with over 15 years' experience having graduated from the University of Sheffield with an MA in Town and Regional Planning in 2006. Since this time Emma has gained substantial experience in both the public and private sectors of planning before founding and becoming a director in the Rural Planning Group in 2017.
Emma has worked for Mid Sussex District Council and Wealden District Council in Development Management and Planning Policy. These roles focused on the determination of Planning Applications and the provision of pre-application advice to householders and developers as well as the development of Local Plans.
In combination with this experience, Emma worked for DP9 a leading London planning consultancy specialising in the preparation and submission of major planning applications, and also for Strutt and Parker gaining invaluable rural planning consultancy experience.
Patrick Griffin BA(hons) MA MRTPI
Director
patrick@ruralpg.com
Patrick has over 15 years' experience in planning working in both the public and private sectors across the South East on residential, commercial, rural, waste and leisure development.
Before becoming a director in the Rural Planning Group Patrick led the rural planning and development department in the Haywards Heath office for the international real estate firm Savills plc. Prior to this he worked for Strutt and Parker a national property consultancy based in Lewes, East Sussex where he project managed a varied case load of planning applications and planning policy work on behalf of a range of clients including large commercial enterprises, major house builders, and Estates.
Patrick also spent a number of years working for Horsham District Council in the planning policy team where he led on and completed a number of projects that contributed to the development of the Local Development Framework. This included leading on all employment and retail planning in the District, managing the delivery of a large strategic allocation of housing land and assessing other potential sites for strategic development.