FOI release

HML / B-hive planning engagement and development proposals

Case reference EIR2026/01856

Received 3 September 2026

Published 6 October 2026

Request

Please treat this as a request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applied to any information that falls outside the EIR.

I request recorded information about development proposals and related planning engagement with Guildford Borough Council during the five years from 3 September 2021 to 3 September 2026 inclusive.

1. Search scope

Please identify cases through BOTH of the following routes:

A. Borough-wide: planning and pre-application matters involving the HML property-management group or B-hive, whether acting as applicant, agent, managing agent, client or representative of a landowner, freeholder or residents' management company.

Relevant names include

HML / HML Group,

HML PM Ltd (04231933),

B-hive Property Solutions (including the trading name and company 10690493),

B-hive Company Secretarial Services Ltd (07106746, formerly HML Company Secretarial Services Ltd).

Please also include entries under:

Vegner Group Ltd / formerly HML Holdings Ltd (05728008)

Vegner Holdings Ltd / formerly HML Group Holdings Ltd (12708049) where they concern HML/B-hive development-related activity.

These are search identifiers, not an assertion that the entities are interchangeable or own particular land.

B. Location-based, irrespective of the applicant's or agent's name:
the Barnwood Close apartment blocks, including Nos 1-18, and adjoining land, woodland and pedestrian corridor between Barnwood Close and Broad Street, beside The Pines and Langford Close / the former Hare and Hounds at 57 Broad Street, Guildford. Include proposals incorporating any part of this land within a larger site, or proposing access across it.

For both routes, include paid or unpaid pre-application enquiries/advice, recorded informal development discussions, planning performance agreements, formal planning applications, outline/reserved matters, prior approvals, amendments and condition applications.

Include cases opened during the period even if subsequently withdrawn, refused, closed, inactive or never followed by an application; also include older cases where recorded advice, correspondence, a decision or other case activity occurred during the period. Supply any earlier linked references already recorded on those files.

2. Case information and approvals

For each identified case, please supply the following information insofar as held, preferably as a CSV, spreadsheet or existing register extract:

- case/application reference and type;
- site address and any recorded site identifier;
- applicant/client, agent and the recorded role of HML/B-hive or its associated entity;
- proposal description, including any recorded demolition, replacement buildings, conversion, proposed dwelling numbers and net change;
- opening/receipt date, dates of advice and latest recorded substantive activity;
- current recorded status, outcome, decision date and reason for closure where recorded;
- related pre-application and formal application references;
- any fee charged, waived or paid, where recorded on the planning/pre-application file.

Please provide the decision notice and officer/committee report for each formal approval, or direct links to those documents. For other publicly available case information, direct case links are acceptable.

3. Supporting records for the location in 1B

For cases relating to this location, please also provide:

- submitted proposal descriptions, site/red-line plans and layout or demolition plans;
- written pre-application advice, substantive meeting notes and correspondence recording the Council's advice or position;
- any recorded advice about trees, root protection areas, landscaping, pedestrian access or site clearance in connection with a development proposal;
- records identifying the party commissioning the advice and the freeholder/developer/client represented, insofar as recorded and disclosable;
- any submitted consultation or resident-notification material held on the proposal file, with residents' personal details redacted;
- any related request or decision to vary or release a Council-held restrictive covenant or planning obligation to facilitate development.

I seek existing records, not a new investigation or assessment of whether a scheme is acceptable. Routine property-management correspondence unrelated to development proposals is outside scope.

4. Search, retention and disclosure

Please search the relevant non-public pre-application/case-management and document records, retained archived or linked application files, and identifiable planning correspondence recording informal advice. A public-portal-only search would not answer this request.

Your published pre-application privacy information states that pre-applications are retained for two years if no subsequent planning application is received. Please include older in-scope information that remains held in registers, linked files or other retained records. Where information is no longer held, please distinguish this from information withheld, and supply the relevant retention rule and any held record identifying the disposal date and affected case.

Please preserve in-scope records held when this request is received while the request is being considered, including records otherwise due for routine deletion.

Where an exception is relied upon, please identify it, explain its application and any required public-interest assessment, and disclose the remaining information with proportionate redactions. If commercial confidentiality is relied upon, please address the specific harm and the public interest in understanding proposals affecting homes, trees, amenity and pedestrian access.

If any part creates a substantial retrieval burden, please provide advice and assistance under regulation 9, identifying the difficult part and a workable refinement. My priorities are the case information in section 2 and the location-specific advice and site plans in section 3. I welcome staged disclosure without treating the remainder as withdrawn.

Please provide an electronic response, acknowledge the request reference and confirm the response due date. This is a separate information request, not an amendment to, or request to suspend, any existing complaint or enforcement investigation.

Response

Thank you for your request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations Act 2004.

Please find the answers to your queries below:

HML / HML Group,

HML PM Ltd (04231933),

B-hive Property Solutions (including the trading name and company 10690493),

B-hive Company Secretarial Services Ltd (07106746, formerly HML Company Secretarial Services Ltd).

Please also include entries under:

Vegner Group Ltd / formerly HML Holdings Ltd (05728008)

Vegner Holdings Ltd / formerly HML Group Holdings Ltd (12708049) where they concern HML/B-hive development-related activity.

These are search identifiers, not an assertion that the entities are interchangeable or own particular land.

Searches have been undertaken of the Council's email archive and relevant planning records for all of the above company names specified within your request, covering the period 3^rd September 2021 to 3^rd September 2026 inclusive. These searches have identified one planning application falling within the scope of your request. No further recorded information has been identified.

The planning application was received on 3^rd September 2021 from a company with the name ‘HML Group’. The planning application reference number is 21/T/00266 and the associated planning application documents and decision letter are already published on our website.

The planning application documents, officer’s report and decision notice are publicly available via the Council's planning portal – these can be found via the following link and inputting ‘21/T/00266’ into the keyword search box:

https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/24686/Search-for-information-about-a-planning-application

Under Regulation 6(1)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, where information is already publicly available and easily accessible to an applicant in another form, the authority may direct the applicant to that source instead of providing a further copy.

Please also find attached additional information relating to this application which was not necessary to publish on the planning portal. This concludes all of the information that we have available in relation to this planning application.

B. Location-based, irrespective of the applicant's or agent's name:
the Barnwood Close apartment blocks, including Nos 1-18, and adjoining land, woodland and pedestrian corridor between Barnwood Close and Broad Street, beside The Pines and Langford Close / the former Hare and Hounds at 57 Broad Street, Guildford. Include proposals incorporating any part of this land within a larger site, or proposing access across it.

Searches have been undertaken of the Council's email archive and relevant planning records for the above location identifiers specified within your request, covering the period 3^rd September 2021 to 3^rd September 2026 inclusive. These searches have identified the following three results:

1. One health and safety works matter falling within the scope of your request – please find attached email correspondence relating to tree works required at Barnwood Close (please note that this is not a planning application or planning matter).

2. One matter related to potential tree works at 6 The Pines Business Park, Broad Street, Guildford, GU3 3BH – please find attached email correspondence relating to this query (please note that this is not a planning application or planning matter).

3. One planning application falling within the scope of your request – ‘Advertisement consent for 2 non-illuminated fascia signs’ at 1 The Pines Business Park, Broad Street, Guildford, GU3 3BH, received on 8^th August 2023. The planning application documents, officer’s report and decision notice are publicly available via the Council's planning portal – these can be found via the following link and inputting ‘23/P/01361’ into the keyword search box:

https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/24686/Search-for-information-about-a-planning-application

No further recorded information has been identified.

For both routes, include paid or unpaid pre-application enquiries/advice, recorded informal development discussions, planning performance agreements, formal planning applications, outline/reserved matters, prior approvals, amendments and condition applications.

Searches were undertaken of the Council's planning case management system (Acolaid), planning records and archived email records using the company names and location identifiers specified within your request. No further recorded information falling within scope of the request was identified.

Include cases opened during the period even if subsequently withdrawn, refused, closed, inactive or never followed by an application; also include older cases where recorded advice, correspondence, a decision or other case activity occurred during the period. Supply any earlier linked references already recorded on those files.

2. Case information and approvals

For each identified case, please supply the following information insofar as held, preferably as a CSV, spreadsheet or existing register extract:

- case/application reference and type;
- site address and any recorded site identifier;
- applicant/client, agent and the recorded role of HML/B-hive or its associated entity;
- proposal description, including any recorded demolition, replacement buildings, conversion, proposed dwelling numbers and net change;
- opening/receipt date, dates of advice and latest recorded substantive activity;
- current recorded status, outcome, decision date and reason for closure where recorded;
- related pre-application and formal application references;
- any fee charged, waived or paid, where recorded on the planning/pre-application file.

Please provide the decision notice and officer/committee report for each formal approval, or direct links to those documents. For other publicly available case information, direct case links are acceptable.

Please find attached a spreadsheet containing the recorded case information identified within the scope of your request.

To clarify, this spreadsheet provides details relating to the planning application the Council received from HML Group on 3^rd September 2021 and the planning application the council received on 8^th August 2023 regarding advertisement consent for 2 non-illuminated fascia signs at 1 The Pines Business Park, Broad Street, Guildford, GU3 3BH.

3. Supporting records for the location in 1B

For cases relating to this location, please also provide:

- submitted proposal descriptions, site/red-line plans and layout or demolition plans;
- written pre-application advice, substantive meeting notes and correspondence recording the Council's advice or position;
- any recorded advice about trees, root protection areas, landscaping, pedestrian access or site clearance in connection with a development proposal;
- records identifying the party commissioning the advice and the freeholder/developer/client represented, insofar as recorded and disclosable;
- any submitted consultation or resident-notification material held on the proposal file, with residents' personal details redacted;
- any related request or decision to vary or release a Council-held restrictive covenant or planning obligation to facilitate development.

Searches of the Council's planning records identified no pre-application enquiries falling within the scope of your request that are currently held by the Council. The Council's retention arrangements provide for pre-application records to be retained for two years where no subsequent planning application is submitted. No retained records identifying any pre-application files were located.

Beyond the planning application and tree-related correspondence already disclosed, searches of the Council's planning records identified no further records falling within the scope of this part of your request. This includes no held pre-application advice, meeting notes, development-related correspondence, site plans, consultation material, covenant variation records or related documents.

I seek existing records, not a new investigation or assessment of whether a scheme is acceptable. Routine property-management correspondence unrelated to development proposals is outside scope.

4. Search, retention and disclosure

Please search the relevant non-public pre-application/case-management and document records, retained archived or linked application files, and identifiable planning correspondence recording informal advice. A public-portal-only search would not answer this request.

I can confirm that a search has been carried out of the Council’s Acolaid planning system.

Your published pre-application privacy information states that pre-applications are retained for two years if no subsequent planning application is received. Please include older in-scope information that remains held in registers, linked files or other retained records. Where information is no longer held, please distinguish this from information withheld, and supply the relevant retention rule and any held record identifying the disposal date and affected case.

Searches have been undertaken of the Council's email archive and relevant planning records for the above company names specified within your request, covering the period 3^rd September 2021 to 3^rd September 2026 inclusive. These searches did not identify any pre-application enquiries falling within the scope of your request.

Please preserve in-scope records held when this request is received while the request is being considered, including records otherwise due for routine deletion.

Where an exception is relied upon, please identify it, explain its application and any required public-interest assessment, and disclose the remaining information with proportionate redactions. If commercial confidentiality is relied upon, please address the specific harm and the public interest in understanding proposals affecting homes, trees, amenity and pedestrian access.

Please note that some redactions have been made under Regulation 13(1)(2A) of the EIR, whereby personal information related to a third party is exempt from disclosure, as disclosure would contravene the data protection principles under Data Protection legislation. This applies to third party names/email addresses/direct dial telephone numbers etc.

If any part creates a substantial retrieval burden, please provide advice and assistance under regulation 9, identifying the difficult part and a workable refinement. My priorities are the case information in section 2 and the location-specific advice and site plans in section 3. I welcome staged disclosure without treating the remainder as withdrawn.

Please provide an electronic response, acknowledge the request reference and confirm the response due date. This is a separate information request, not an amendment to, or request to suspend, any existing complaint or enforcement investigation.

Following the searches described above, the Council has identified and disclosed all recorded information held falling within the scope of this request. Apart from the information already publicly available via the planning portal and the attached documents, no further recorded information is held relating to the specified companies, locations or development proposals during the requested period.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team

Guildford Borough Council

Documents

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