Alister Smith

Alister leads the Stags Planning department within our Professional Services team and covers the whole of the West Country.  Alister is a chartered member of the Planning and Development faculty of the RICS and an affiliate member of the RTPI.  He began his career in planning with Acorus Rural Property Services working for mainly rural clients across the South West. Following a period with national property consultancy Bruton Knowles as a planning consultant, Alister returned to the South West to work for PCL Planning, where he largely provided advice to developers, landowners, housebuilders and the hotel and leisure sector before joining Stags to head up the Planning Services team. Having advised on all types of planning work, Alister has an excellent understanding of all aspects of the planning system.

Outside of work Alister enjoys travel and getting out in the fresh air and is a keen cyclist, one of a number at Stags. Coming from a family with farming links and having lived in the countryside for most of his life he continues to have a keen interest in rural issues and pursuits.

Recent examples of work

• Certificate of lawfulness for non-compliance with agricultural occupancy condition
• Appeal against a refusal of planning permission for a single dwelling
• Application for conversion of former plant nursery to B1/B8 commercial use
• Conversion of barn to a single dwelling under Class Q permitted development rights
• Planning application for infill development of four dwellings

Testimonials

Alister and the team at Stags successfully guided me through the complexities of the planning and appeal process on a residential application for nine houses in South Somerset. They achieved a great result for me after some difficult discussions with the local planning department. Ms SAM