Planning Law Accreditation Scheme
Applying for scheme membership
Solicitors who wish to apply for membership of the Planning Law Accreditation Scheme must
- be current corporate or legal members of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), or
- have successfully completed the now defunct Joint Planning Examination, or
- submit a 5,000-word dissertation on a planning law topic.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Planning Law Accreditation Scheme, please read
- the Professional accreditation schemes application criteria and guidance notes (PDF 80K), and
- the Planning Law Accreditation Scheme criteria and guidance notes (PDF 33K).
Then, complete and submit the scheme application form (PDF 25K), including the appropriate supporting documents.
Useful links
The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) is a membership organisation and a registered charity. Its members include planning officers for local councils, consultants (for central government, property developers and other organisations with significant landholdings) and university lecturers and researchers.
The SRA operates a dedicated website for scheme members, providing secure access to the Planning Law Accreditation Scheme logo.
Re-accreditation
Accreditation scheme membership doesn't last forever. Every five years, it must be renewed; the process is called re-accreditation.
Re-accreditation is a way of assuring consumers that members of the Planning Law Accreditation Scheme continue to meet the requirements for membership.
Information for scheme members
If you are a scheme member and think your membership is about to expire, you don't need to do anything. We will automatically send you the forms and all of the details you need at least two months before your membership expires.
To ensure the forms reach you promptly, review your entry in Find a solicitor, and immediately advise us by email if the contact details that appear there are incorrect.
Re-accreditation applications are assessed by experienced and qualified assessors who are members of the scheme.
