Operational Management

Our story and what makes us different – expertise is drawn from direct operational experience of managing tourism, heritage and recreation businesses

Planning Solutions Limited was established in 1995, by Mike Stickland, tracing its roots back to the Rank Group, where we were responsible for developing Oasis Forest Holidays (subsequently acquired by Center Parcs) and the rebranded Warner Leisure Hotels product.  Our sister company Planning Solutions Limited, has been investing in, developing and managing a number of tourism, heritage, activity, leisure and visitor experience businesses for over 25 years. Find out more about management operations. These include:

Visitor experiences

  • CONKERS, a £19 million day visitor attraction and 120-acre discovery park in Leicestershire
  • The National Brewery Centre formerly the Bass Museum in Staffordshire
  • Kent Life Heritage Farm Park, a 28-acre farm park experience in Kent

Activity and adrenaline experiences

  • The Cotswold Country Park and Beach, a water based activity experience in Gloucestershire
  • A High and Low Ropes Aerial Adventure in Leicestershire
  • Vertigo Adventures, a high and low ropes adventure at Stanborough Park in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

Retail parks and shopping centres

  • Super-Tubing adventure experience in Ebbw Vale, Gwent
  • Springfields Adventure Land in Spalding, Lincolnshire

Hotel and micro-brewery

  • The Royal Esplanade Hotel in the Isle of Wight
  • The William Worthington Brewery, a micro-brewery in Staffordshire

Other leisure businesses

  • A craft bakery on the Isle of Wight
  • A Harry Ramsden’s franchise in Brighton, East Sussex (operated from 1999 to 2016)
  • Onboard TV an advertising and marketing service on Wightlink ferries (operated until 2018)

We have found that this practical operational and direct development experience helps to create a significant positive impact when working on visitor attraction, country park, heritage, museum and tourist accommodation projects. It helps to bring a strong commercial realism to projects.  Find out more about management operations.

Find out more about Planning Solutions Limited and their operations here.