Sadaf Arfan

I began my career as a town planner at the London Borough of Ealing, and spent a period at the Royal Town Planning Institute working on professional standards. I enjoyed development management, but the cases that held my attention were the ones that arrived after the decision had been made, when what was built on the ground did not match what had been approved.

That pulled me into enforcement, and I have stayed there for eleven years. I have worked across fifteen local authorities, from London boroughs including Lambeth, Hillingdon, Redbridge, Sutton, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Ealing, to district councils including St Albans, Watford, Swindon, Cheltenham, Stafford and Rochford. I have carried a caseload as an officer, taken on the complex and high harm cases as a senior officer, and led teams as a manager and team leader.

Enforcement matters because it is where planning either means something or does not. Done well it protects neighbours, heritage and safety, and it treats people who have made a mistake with the fairness they deserve. Done badly it drifts, cases age out, and nobody is served.

I founded Aequitas Planning because both sides of that relationship need better support. Councils need experienced people who can pick up a backlog without a long induction. Owners and their advisers need someone who can explain, honestly, how the council will look at their case and what will realistically resolve it. Aequitas is Latin for fairness, and that is the standard I want the work held to.

I do not offer tricks for beating the council. I offer an accurate reading of the position and the work needed to reach a sensible outcome.