ESTATE agency isn't all about selling properties and so Rebecca Lock has joined Fisher German as associate planner.

The company already has a 95 per cent success rate in gaining planning approvals for clients and the interest in planning keeps growing. Mrs Lock will be working alongside the Fisher German teams in Worcester and Banbury, offering planning strategy advice and helping identify new development sites. Her planning expertise will connect disciplines such as planning and construction, commercial, property agency, renewable energy, rural consultancy and utilities and infrastructure.

She joins Fisher German from Stratford District Council, where she has worked as a senior planner dealing with major planning applications covering the residential, commercial and agricultural areas, planning appeals and legal agreements.

Mrs Lock said: “I am very excited to make the move to Fisher German and am enjoying working directly with clients again. I think that my knowledge of working on the ‘inside’ will be invaluable when it comes to guiding clients through the many nuances of the planning application process. Many authorities do not have their housing strategies in order and there are many opportunities out there for landowners to achieve consent for development. I have a background in rural estate management and surveying which I think gives me a great starting point for working with Fisher German’s existing client base.”

Mrs Lock is a qualified town planner, but has the added bonus of also being a qualified chartered surveyor, having originally qualified MRICS with a national firm of land agents.