Hopefully everybody involved in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country has had a restful Christmas and have managed to combine at least a little rest with digesting the cavalcade of announcements on Planning Reform Day. This episode is the third of the festive 50 Shades triumvirate looking back at 2023. The first two did so by way of the 50 Shades Festive Christmas Quizzes. This third episode sees the return of Zack Simons’ Planaraks Awards, which Zack has again k...
Dec 30, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 113
Well Planning Reform Day finally arrived, just in time for the profession to be able to digest a cavalcade of announcements over Christmas, but not in time for the second and third of the festive 50 Shades episodes. The podcast will be covering the new NPPF in due course, but put all of that hullabaloo to one side for now and let Sam Stafford and friends take a second look at another exciting year in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and world of town and country planning. This is the London e...
Dec 23, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 112
So it is Christmas and, as Sam Stafford was asked in his appraisal, what have you done? Another year over and a new one just begun. If you cannot actually remember what you have done this year and if, as you look back, it has just been a blur of government consultation after government consultation, then the 50 Shades of Planning podcast is here to jog your memory and hopefully spread a little festive cheer. Or, Sam hopes, at least fill an hour or so during the wait, as is becoming another festi...
Dec 16, 2023•51 min•Ep. 111
As far back as Sam Stafford can remember Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) have been the answer to questions about both how to get more resources into LPAs and how to improve application timescales. As Sam says in introducing this episode, he has been working for over twenty years, those questions remain unanswered, and PPAs remain a code yet to be cracked. Why, for example, according to Planning Magazine, were PPAs used for 30.3% of decisions in Solihull last year, but only in 1.3% of deci...
Dec 09, 2023•55 min•Ep. 110
Before heading to London for the week, Sam Stafford caught up with 50 Shades stalwarts Paul Smith , Katie Wray and Ian Wray for a wide-ranging ramblechat at the Reform Radio studios in Manchester. Paul is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group, a Director at the LPDF and a columnist for Housing Today. Katie is a Director at Deloitte. Ian is an Honorary Professor and Fellow at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice & Place at the University of Liverpool and a Fellow of the...
Dec 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 109
The RTPI's recently published ‘State of the Profession’ report identified, perhaps unsurprisingly, that planners are increasingly being employed in the private sector, with numbers growing by a third over the last decade. The number of planners working in the public sector has reportedly shrunk by a quarter over the same period. Pleasingly though and perhaps contrary to preconceptions, this flow is not one way and some planners are making the move into or back into the public sector. The recruit...
Nov 25, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 108
"Regional Spatial Strategies bridged the gap between those planning issues determined by local policy or concern, and those subject to policy goals defined at a national level – such as those for housing or renewable energy. The intended abolition of regional spatial planning strategies leaves a vacuum at the heart of the English planning system which could have profound social, economic and environmental consequences set to last for many years” So concluded, presciently, the all party Commons C...
Nov 11, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 107
Whilst in London this week Sam Stafford recorded an end-of-month ramblechat with Ben Castell , Catriona Riddell , Gilian Macinnes and Nicola Gooch . The conversation takes in all manner of things, including the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act, news of which broke during the recording. They talk about the two part documentary 'Britain's Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong?' and touch too on nutrient neutrality. For the die hard 50 Shades fans there is some strategic planning and housing target ch...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 106
A few months ago old friend of the podcast Rebecca Coley , Head of Planning & Development at Trafford Council, messaged Sam Stafford suggesting a 50 Shades episode on “the hidden work of LPAs that slows everything down, e.g. political pressure to investigate particular enforcement cases, the endless complaints that are actually neighbour disputes, FOI, all that kind of stuff". Sam thought that a good idea so they put together a group of senior planners to explore these issues further. That g...
Oct 21, 2023•47 min•Ep. 105
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Housing Market & Housing Delivery is a cross-party group of MPs and Peers dedicated to improving the UK housing market. It has published a report called ‘Hacking housing: nine supply side hacks to fix our housing system error’ (link below) and the recommendations include changing the narrative around new development; a ‘grown-up conversation’ about Green Belt and incentivising LPAs to plan positively. Most eye-catching though are these recommendation...
Oct 07, 2023•51 min•Ep. 104
Sam Stafford had planned more of a ramble-type chat with Pete Swift , Jonathan Easton and Claire Petricca-Riding , but, reflective of the news that has dominated the agenda of late, their conversation, recorded online, focuses on planning for the environment and specifically nutrient neutrality and net zero. They talk less about the nuts and bolts, practical implications of the respective recent announcements in these areas (links below) and more about the political narrative. Thanks largely to ...
Sep 30, 2023•50 min•Ep. 103
If you are involved in the delivery of tall buildings, especially in London, where Sadiq Khan has blamed Government dithering for delaying 34,000 homes on major development sites, then the second staircase issue will already be on your radar. By way of background, the Government consulted on Approved Document B of the Building Regulations between 23 December 2022 and 17 March 2023. The consultation document stated that: “30 metres is an accepted threshold for increased safety measures such as in...
Sep 23, 2023•48 min•Ep. 102
Sam Stafford was in London this week and managed to catch up with some of the 50 Shades crew for a conversation about another turbulent few weeks in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning. Sam met Andrew Taylor , Gilian Macinnes , Simon Ricketts and Nicola Gooch at Soho Radio Studios for a wide-ranging, whistle-stop catch-up that took in application fees in the context of wider local authority funding challenges; a new local plan consultation in the conte...
Sep 02, 2023•48 min•Ep. 101
This episode is another in the Hitting The High Notes series, which is planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Unlike Desert Island Discs you...
Aug 19, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 100
Long-serving listeners might recall that for episode 45 of the podcast Sam Stafford published a conversation with Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield South East, about the then Housing, Communities & Local Government Committee’s recently-published report on the future of the planning system in England. Clive chaired that committee and has been involved in housing and planning-related select committees of different names since 2002. He has been a member of parliament since 1992. That 2021 report, w...
Jul 22, 2023•55 min•Ep. 99
This episode is part of an international triumvirate, which has been put together with the help of old friend of the podcast, Ian Wray, and new friend of the podcast, Lucy Natarajan . Ian, regular listeners will know, is a Professor at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at University of Liverpool. Lucy is one of the editors of the Built Environment journal, a co-founder of Place Alliance, an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes and an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartl...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 98
This episode is part of an international triumvirate, which has been put together with the help of old friend of the podcast, Ian Wray, and new friend of the podcast, Lucy Natarajan . Ian, regular listeners will know, is a Professor at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at University of Liverpool. Lucy is one of the editors of the Built Environment journal, a co-founder of Place Alliance, an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes and an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartl...
Jul 01, 2023•45 min•Ep. 96
This episode is part of an international triumvirate, which has been put together with the help of old friend of the podcast, Ian Wray, and new friend of the podcast, Lucy Natarajan . Ian, regular listeners will know, is a Professor at the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at University of Liverpool. Lucy is one of the editors of the Built Environment journal, a co-founder of Place Alliance, an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes and an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartl...
Jul 01, 2023•54 min•Ep. 97
A little while ago Sam Stafford was approached by the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC), the professional membership body for clerks to town, parish and community councils across England and Wales, about contributing to an episode of their podcast. Sam subsequently met Shelley Parker, Linda Carter and Andrew Towlerton at Factory Studios in Bristol in April 2023 for a discussion largely focussed on how parish councils and the development industry can work better together. Shelley, who chaire...
Jun 17, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 95
Hitting The High Notes is town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. In these episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every permission or project Sam asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period of their career. Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear a...
Jun 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 94
Think back for a moment to August 2020, to the ‘Planning for the future’ white paper, and to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire for “radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second World War. Not more fiddling around the edges, not simply painting over the damp patches, but levelling the foundations and building, from the ground up, a whole new planning system for England.” Alongside proposals for “growth, renewal and protection areas” and a new nationally-determined, bindin...
May 13, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 93
A short while ago friend of the podcast Shelly Rouse got in touch with Sam Stafford asking for suggestions for a lecture that Shelly was giving for another friend of the podcast Charlotte Morphet and her soon-to-be planning grads at Leeds Beckett University. Shelly was after some words of wisdom to help the students with job hunting and the move into the big wide world of work. Sam and Shelly subsequently opened it up to some of the 50 Shades gang and the level of interest and insight was such t...
May 06, 2023•29 min•Ep. 92
A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. The planning system, it could be contended, is a triangle. At one vertex there are the officers, the professionals, the technocrats, battling gainfully to get a local plan in place so as to determine planning applications in accordance with it. At another vertex there are the great British public, whose consciousness is only really pricked by planning when an application is mooted that might add vital seconds to waiting times at the en...
Apr 22, 2023•54 min•Ep. 91
In June 2022 the Government consulted on proposals to abolish hope and development value when assessing compensation for land compulsorily purchased for certain kinds of schemes. Nine months after it closed, a response has yet to be published, but many CPO professionals made the point at the time that the proposals would be unfair and that there was no evidence that the risk of paying hope value compensation was deterring promoters from bringing forward CPOs. On 13 March 2023, however, the Gover...
Apr 01, 2023•56 min•Ep. 90
When Karolina Grebowiec-Hall contacted Sam Stafford about sharing her podcast with his LinkedIn network Sam went a step further and invited Karolina to share it by way of the 50 Shades platform. Karolina has created a website called Pinch Yourself You’re A Planner . As she says on it, "I’m discomforted when the conversation about planning and planners reinforces the negatives and misguides how we see ourselves. Planners are a passionate bunch. We need opportunities to take back the conversation,...
Mar 18, 2023•39 min•Ep. 89
Spatial planning can only deliver a safe, healthy and sustainable environment for all if it is sensitive to the needs of all, which means taking into account the different roles women and men have in society and the different expectations and requirements they have from the planning system. Nobody could argue with that principle, but what does it mean in practice? What does planning policy look like when viewed through a gender lens, how do we plan on a gender inclusive basis at a city-wide scal...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 88
‘Are you planning a 50 Shades on the local authority staffing crisis?’ It was that message from a 50 Shades listener that prompted Episode 60 of the podcast, which Sam Stafford called ‘Life on the Front Line’. At around the same time, Catriona Riddell used a Planning Magazine column to highlight low morale in LPAs, citing hostility towards planners and the planning system from every quarter. Catriona revisited this theme in another recent column and Sam thought that it would be interesting to re...
Feb 25, 2023•52 min•Ep. 87
Local plan-making is in something of a crisis. Lichfields reported in April 2022 on the 11 local plans that had at that time been overtly delayed, paused or withdrawn. Indeed the number of plans published in draft, submitted for examination and adopted in 2022 were all at the lowest level for a decade. This year is likely to be little better as more and more LPAs initially waited for, and more latterly are digesting, a NPPF consultation and the direction of the reform agenda. Lichfields are now ...
Feb 04, 2023•58 min•Ep. 86
It will not have escaped the attention of regular 50 Shades listeners that a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was launched shortly before Christmas and, knowing that it was coming, friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts arranged one his 'Planning Law Unplanned' Clubhouse sessions for the first week back. Simon kindly agreed to record the discussion so that Sam Stafford could share it by of the 50 Shades platform. Listeners will hear in this episode an excell...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 85
Even by the standards of the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning 2022 has been quite a year. Who better to review it, Sam Stafford thought, than Zack Simons, one of the most erudite, informed and entertaining thought leaders in the planning profession. Sam and Zack consider some of the year's important planning stories and, excitingly, Zack hands out his 2022 #Planarak Awards. A point of clarification. In discussing the controversial foreword to the Pre-Su...
Dec 31, 2022•57 min•Ep. 84
