50 Shades of Planning

The Chief Medical Officer, in their annual report, presents to Government information or ‘surveillance’ about the health of England’s population, offering recommendations to both government and individual organisations as to how to improve the public health system. In his 2021 report, published in July, Chris Whitty chose to report on health in coastal communities. It concluded that: There are many reasons for poor health outcomes in coastal communities. The pleasant environment attracts older, retired citizens to settle, who inevitably have more and increasing health problems. An oversupply of guest housing has led to Houses of Multiple Occupation which lead to concentrations of deprivation and ill health. The sea is a benefit but also a barrier: attracting NHS and social care staff to peripheral areas is harder, catchment areas for health services are artificially foreshortened and transport is often limited, in turn limiting job opportunities. Many coastal communities were created around a single industry such as previous versions of tourism, or fishing, or port work that have since moved on, meaning work can often be scarce or seasonal. Physical and natural environment? Demography? Housing? Transport? Employment? This, Sam Stafford thought, sounded like a good subject for exploration on a town planning-based podcast. What are the particular issues associated with planning for coastal communities? What distinguishes a successful coastal town from a less successful one? And what role does the planning system have in determining these outcomes? Sam puts these questions to Louise Wood (@LWood_Cornwall), Service Director for Planning at Cornwall Council; Christopher Balch (@balchplyuni), Emeritus Professor at the University of Plymouth and Non-Executive Director at the Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust; and Warren Lever (@ShapeThePlace), Senior Conservation & Design Officer at New Forest District Council. Some accompanying reading. Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-2021-health-in-coastal-communities 'Imagination is key to the revival of Britain’s seaside towns' https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/13/imagination-key-revival-of-britains-seaside-towns-banksy-norfolk Levelling up: The seaside town debating what change is needed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58248594 Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities - The future of seaside towns https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldseaside/320/32004.htm#_idTextAnchor008 Higher education enables graduates to move to places with better career prospects – but this leads to brain drain from the North and coastal areas https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15621 Trusting the People: the case for community-powered conservatism https://www.newlocal.org.uk/publications/trusting-people-community/ Blue Deal For Coastal Communities https://neweconomics.org/campaigns/blue-new-deal Some accompanying viewing. Councillors Ray Cox and Roy Evans discuss efforts to regenerate Marine Way in Aldington-on-Sea https://youtu.be/aeARXMHW4Is Some accompanying listening. The Coral - Take me back to the summertime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREwDVoh558 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

"We appreciate that these funds bring challenges to local councils and we want to ensure there are fewer competitions in the future and more consolidated opportunities to access government funding." So said former Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick to the Local Government Conference in July 2021. As 'No Place Left Behind' report from the Create Streets Foundation has noted, “despite the extreme pressures of the pandemic, the government has increasingly made funding available to kick start levelling up, with a strong focus on community and place.” There are: The Levelling Up Fund (worth £4.8bn);The Towns Fund (£3.6bn);A Shared Prosperity Fund worth £1.5bn per annum;The Future High Streets Fund (£830m);A Community Renewal Fund (worth £220m);A Community Ownership Fund (£150m);High Street Heritage Action Zones (£95m); andA Welcome Back Fund (£56m). The funding itself is clearly welcome, but Mr Jenrick was perhaps responding to criticism that all look set to be allocated competitively at Whitehall’s discretion and the National Audit Office did have something to say in 2020 about the discretion being exercised in the distribution of the Towns Fund. What is the difference between success and failure when bidding for these funds? How hard is it in practice to realise a vision for a place, no matter how compelling and coherent, when implementation relies on a disparate and seemingly ever-evolving funding regime? Surely there is a better way, but what? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Ros Flowers, Economic Growth Senior Manager at Brent Council; Andy Rumfitt, Senior Director at Turley (@AndyRumfitt); and Jaimie Ferguson, Director at Open (@jaimieferg). Some accompanying reading. 'No Place Left Behind', the report of the Commission into Prosperity and Community Placemaking established by the Create Streets Foundation https://www.createstreetsfoundation.org.uk/no-place-left-behind/ 'Inquiry raises concerns over how £3.6bn towns fund was distributed' - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/nov/11/inquiry-raises-concerns-over-how-36bn-towns-fund-was-distributed 'Want to ‘level up’ the UK? Just give places the power and money they need' - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/19/level-up-uk-regions-local-authority-funding 'Fundamental shift in funding to local level needed to help level up English towns' - The National Infrastructure Commission https://nic.org.uk/news/fundamental-shift-in-funding-to-local-level-needed-to-help-level-up-english-towns-recommends-commission/ 'How Labour can rebuild the Red Wall across the North' - Labour for the North        https://labourlist.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Labours-Northern-Soul-%E2%80%94-How-Labour-Can-Rebuild-the-Red-Wall-Across-the-North.pdf 'Unlocking the potential of places' - Future Place https://www.architecture.com/-/media/GatherContent/Test-resources-page/Additional-Documents/2019-Future-Place-report-Unlocking-the-Potential-of-Placespdf.pdf Some accompanying listening. You never give me your money - The Beatles   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpndGZ71yww 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

This episode explores two crises, one of which is a very public one and the other a more private one. There is a housing crisis. Millions of people live in unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable homes; young people are living at home with their parents for longer; and the average age of first time buyers gets older. At the same time there is something of a crisis in golf. There was a spike in 2020 as it became one of the few things that people could do outdoors during lockdown, but the longer term trends in both club membership and participation are very much downwards. These crises intersect. Why, commentators have asked, given an over-provision of golf course supply and an under-provision of housing supply, don’t more golf courses come forward for development? If London’s golf courses, for example, were a borough in their own right it would bigger than Brent and only slightly smaller than Sutton. Given too that 43 of London’s golf courses are within public ownership, mostly the London boroughs themselves, why are they being used to the benefit of the few rather than the benefit of the many? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Russell Curtis, Director at RCKa (@russellcurtis); Tim Lloyd-Skinner, MD at Melior Golf and Regional Director at Golf Management Group (@GMG_Tim); and Kathryn Ventham, Director, at Barton Willmore (@kateventham). Some accompanying reading. Russell's 'Golf Belt' Blog https://golfbelt.russellcurtis.co.uk/ 'London golf courses could provide homes for 300,000 people, study says' - The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/26/london-golf-courses-could-provide-homes-for-300000-people-study-says 'Golf’s stranglehold on land in London should be broken' - The New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/2021/09/golf-s-stranglehold-land-london-should-be-broken Some accompanying listening. 'Straight Down The Middle' by Bing Crosby https://youtu.be/XDkV_41qEVM Some accompanying viewing. 'The shot of a champion'. Sam's approach to the 18th at Belton Woods in 2017, the second of his now three wins in the prestigious Disco Steve Invitational Journey (commentary by Sam's friend Nigel). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgG0yevolZY 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

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 any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening to this episode, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Paul Barnard MBE (@Paul_Planning). Paul is Service Director for Strategic Planning & Infrastructure, his fifteenth job title at Plymouth City Council. Their conversation takes in hostels for the homeless; the Single Regeneration Budget; the importance of both a vision and a political consensus; and distributing CIL via the Crowdfunder platform. Paul's song selections. Rubicon by Killing Joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqBeBuBoKw Shadowplay by Joy Division https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPt3-lB5Lsc Home by Depeche Mode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZHs-SRJbzU This is the Day by The The https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYgKCbFbWY Gnossiennes by Erik Satie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7kvGqiJC4g A Night Like This by The Cure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE1nu67-U2I This must be the place by Talking Heads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gK2fOq4MY Paul’s Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0IQk1lzFHsKdjDYmAjMX9R?si=AdqGUnMqRTWn8thenEyEWA&dl_branch=1 Some accompanying reading. A Vision For Plymouth https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningandbuildingcontrol/visionplymouth Plymouth’s Plan for Homes https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/housing/planhomes Plymouth’s City Change Fund https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/planningandbuildingcontrol/neighbourhoodplanning/citychangefund 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

This is the second of two 50 Shades episodes that Stephen Gleave has put together. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the North West of England for nearly 30 years. Stephen was invited to guest edit the Summer 2021 edition of the Urban Design Group’s quarterly journal and Sam Stafford has lent the 50 Shades of Planning podcast as a platform for Stephen to share some of the material that he curated.  If you have listened to Part 1 you will know that Stephen set out to explore urban design in the north, the 'Northern Powerhouse' and what 'levelling up' might mean for placemaking. What are the current active urban designers “up to” across the north? What influence are they having, what are they achieving and what challenges are they facing?  Stephen sought input from a range of academics, consultants and practitioners in both public and private sectors and some of the contributors have kindly taken the time to read their essays for these two 50 Shades episodes.  Part 2 features Leah Stuart at Civic Engineers (@LeahStu) on movement in towns and across the region; Graeme Moore at Oldham Council (@geordiegraeme81) with a view from the front line; Graham Marshall at Prosocial Place (@prosocialplace) on how people are the northern powerhouse; and Matt Doran at Manchester City Council (@iammattdoran) on the future of our town and city centres.  Information on how to join the Urban Design Group and how to get hold of a copy of the Summer 2021 edition of the journal can be found here. https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/journal/urban-design-159-summer-2021 Some of this contributors to this episode have come together to form Common Good, a non-profit group of practitioners acting in their own time to encourage discussions around sustainable places and good design in the North. Follow @CommonGood_ on Twitter. Some accompanying watching. Christopher Eccleston, writer Peter Flannery and executive producer Charlie Pattinson take part in a BFI Q&A to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Our Friends in the North https://youtu.be/EM6sa_iQAl0 Some accompanying listening. Northern Skies by I Am Kloot https://youtu.be/wlmMumA0CMU 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

For both this episode and the next one Sam Stafford hands over the 50 Shades reins to Stephen Gleave. Stephen is an urban designer and town planner and has been based in the North West of England for nearly 30 years. Stephen was invited to guest edit the Summer 2021 edition of the Urban Design Group’s quarterly journal and Sam has lent the 50 Shades of Planning podcast as a platform for Stephen to share some of the material that he curated.  Stephen set out to explore urban design in the north, the 'Northern Powerhouse' and what 'levelling up' might mean for placemaking. What are the current active urban designers “up to” across the north? What influence are they having, what are they achieving and what challenges are they facing?  Stephen sought input from a range of academics, consultants and practitioners in both public and private sectors and some of the contributors have kindly taken the time to read their essays for these two 50 Shades episodes.  Part 1 features David Roberts at Igloo (@david_igloo) talking about Riverside Sunderland; Vicky Payne at URBED (@Victoria_Payne) talking about an equitable approach to housing design quality; and Jaimie Ferguson at OPEN (@jaimieferg) talking about designing for prosperity (again...). Information on how to join the Urban Design Group and how to get hold of a copy of the Summer 2021 edition of the journal can be found here. https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/journal/urban-design-159-summer-2021 Some of this contributors to this episode have come together to form Common Good, a non-profit group of practitioners acting in their own time to encourage discussions around sustainable places and good design in the North. Follow @CommonGood_ on Twitter. Some accompanying watching. Our Friends in the North on Britbox https://www.britbox.co.uk/programme/Our_Friends_in_the_North_46176 Some accompanying listening. Hit The North by Frank Sidebottom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0elCZT8yN0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

'Where are we now?' asks Sam Stafford in this episode not in the manner of an exasperated child in the back of a hot car staring out at a traffic jam on the M5, but in the manner of an exasperated planning professional contemplating why, as we hurtle towards the end of the second year of this parliamentary term, the Government’s vision for the planning system, nay the country, remains, let’s say charitably, in embryonic form. A good indication as to where we are now comes from the raft of reports and speeches published and delivered by politicians and think tanks recently, seemingly with the aim of getting things off their desk before the end of term. July 2021 brought: A Robert Jenrick speech to the Local Government Association’s annual conference;A Boris Johnson speech on his vision to level up the United Kingdom;A Written Ministerial Statement from Robert Jenrick on building beautiful places alongside the revised NPPF and National Model Design Code;Place Alliance’s Design Deficit report;The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s report on Post-Pandemic Economic Growth and Levelling Up;The Department for Transport’s Plan for Decarbonising transport: a better, greener Britain; andTransparency International UK’s report: ‘House of Cards – Exploring access and influence in UK housing policy’. Joining Sam to chew over that little lot and to get a feel, as everybody heads either up or down the motorway network for their summer hols, are four friends of, and regular contributors to, the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast. Simon Ricketts (@sricketts1) is a Partner at Town Legal;Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly) is a Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service;Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne) is a Senior Consultant at URBED; andPaul Smith (@Paul_SLG) is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group. The 50 Shades of Planning Summer Holiday Reading List. Robert Jenrick’s speech to the Local Government Association’s annual conference https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/local-government-association-annual-conference-2021-secretary-of-states-speech  Boris Johnson’s speech on his vision to level up the United Kingdom https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-prime-ministers-levelling-up-speech-15-july-2021 A Written Ministerial Statement from Robert Jenrick on building beautiful places (published alongside the revised NPPF and National Model Design Code) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-20/hcws21 Place Alliance’s 'Design Deficit' report http://placealliance.org.uk/research/design-deficit/ The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s report on Post-Pandemic Economic Growth and Levelling Up https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/365/business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-committee/news/156781/governments-levelling-up-agenda-risks-becoming-an-everything-and-nothing-policy-say-business-committee/ ‘Decarbonising transport: a better, greener Britain’ by the Department for Transport https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transport-decarbonisation-plan ‘House of Cards – Exploring access and influence in UK housing policy’ by Transparency International UK https://www.transparency.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/publications/House%20of%20Cards%20-%20Transparency%20International%20UK%20%28web%29.pdf The Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021 seeking a national strategy to improve the health of coastal communities https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chief-medical-officer-annual-report-2021 Some accompanying listening. Holiday by Happy Mondays https://youtu.be/kYRF7qcBMDg 50 Shades T-Shirts! http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

Hidden in the conclusions of the December 2020 Household Resilience Study (a Covid-specific follow-up to the English Housing Survey) was the striking statistic that 39% of households are under-occupied in that they have two or more spare bedrooms. It is easy to leap to the assumption, as indeed Sam Stafford admits to in this episode, that these households are elderly people, perhaps single elderly people, rattling around in family homes that they cannot bear to leave. From there it is also easy to assume that by encouraging people to downsize better use can be made of the existing housing stock. Why wouldn’t somebody want to move to a more manageable property or to a more sociable retirement community? It’s easy to paint a mental picture of ‘housing for older people’ without thinking too much more about it. Indeed, as Sam also admits, ‘housing for older people’ was the working title for this episode. This episode is about challenging those, and other, assumptions and preconceptions. Is the UK actually unique amongst our Western friends in not having a culture of downsizing? If we should is that for the state or the market to foster? Why is the development community not responding to an aging population with more bespoke accommodation and, if more could be encouraged, what should it look like and where should it be? Sam puts these questions to Silvia Gullino, Associate Professor in City Making at Birmingham City University; Graham Marshall, Director at ProSocial Place and Honorary Senior Fellow at Liverpool University; Rhiannon Corcoran, Professor of Psychology and Public Mental Health at Liverpool University; and Shannon Conway, Residential Director at Glenbrook Property. Twitter handles: @SilviaGullino@BCU_Planning@prosocialplace@rhiannoncor@PlaceWellbeing@ShannonConway99Glenbrookprop Some accompanying reading. Housing for older people - a report from the CLG Committee https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/370/370.pdf Homes for healthy ageing: Understanding the challenges - A Catapult Future of Housing blog https://cp.catapult.org.uk/news/housing-the-elderly-understanding-the-challenges/ Last Time Buyers - a report from L&G https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/assets/portal/files/pdf_175.pdf Rightsizing: Reframing the housing offer for older people - a report based on research undertaken by PHASE at Manchester School of Architecture  https://www.msa.ac.uk/media/msaacuk/documents/research/Rightsizing_MSA.pdf Guild Living wins planning appeal after ‘ageism’ row - Housing Today https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/guild-living-wins-planning-appeal-after-ageism-row/5112492.article The ten key design criteria that make up the HAPPI principles from the Housing Learning and Improvement Network https://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/Design-building/HAPPI/ Some accompanying viewing The Sopranos - ‘Green Grove is a retirement community...’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1KfNAtgGM4 Some accompanying listening Older by Band of Horses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdIYUI21s8 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

‘Well-intentioned highways department rules and guidance have had a devastating effect on new housing developments over the past 80 years. Many have led to roads not streets, units not homes, and ‘could-be-anywhere’ housing developments, not real places with centres and edges. A range of rules have the effect of stopping you getting out and about, preventing you meeting your neighbours, stopping you from creating communities and locking you into car dependence.’ That is a quote from the introduction to ‘The Bin Lorry Effect’, a briefing paper from Create Streets (see link below) about how 'new homes and places are ruined by highways regulations and how we can fight back'. Can we, as planners, look at the schemes that we are involved with and confidently say that we would want to live on that road? Are we creating places that are accessible for people aged 8 to 80? Are we submitting and approving applications that follow desire lines for pedestrians and cyclists? Are we supporting a 21st Century user hierarchy that places pedestrians and cyclists at the top, private motor vehicles at the bottom, and public transport in the middle? If not, why not? Sam Stafford puts these questions to David Milner, Deputy Director at Create Streets; Anna Parsons, Associate Design Director at Catesby Estates; and Alexis Edwards, Transport Development Team Leader at BCP Council. David and Alexis are on Twitter at @djjmiler and @MrAlexisEdwards. Anna is not on Twitter. Some accompanying reading. 'The Bin Lorry Effect' by Create Streets https://www.createstreets.com/projects/the-bin-lorry-effect-11th-january/ Traffic in Towns – The Buchanan Report https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/udlibrary/traffic-towns-buchanan-report ‘What’s wrong with modelling the ‘worst case’?’ by Rachel Aldred. http://rachelaldred.org/writing/consultations/whats-wrong-with-modelling-the-worst-case/ ‘What is the status of Manual for Streets?’ by Andrew Lainton https://andrewlainton.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/what-is-the-status-of-manual-for-streets/ Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2): 2020 to 2025 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-investment-strategy-2-ris2-2020-to-2025 Traffic signs manual https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-signs-manual 'Transport appraisal: a pathway to poor decision making?' by Andy Cope of Sustrans https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/opinion/2018/october/transport-appraisal-a-pathway-to-poor-decision-making Some accompanying listening. Less Than Useful by Ned's Atomic Dustbin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYqfB44lEF0 Some accompanying viewing. 'How bins should be collected', by H.J Simpson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwzV9SlNOTM 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

Death, taxes and reform are the three certainties that accompany planners along life’s endless cycleway. Insofar as the latter is concerned, this is one of the more turbulent periods. White Papers come and White Papers go, but last year’s was particularly notable for it’s almost wholesale reimagining of the planning system. “Radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second World War”, wrote the Prime Minister in his foreword to ‘Planning for the future’. “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.” And since? Well there has not been a dicky bird from the Government, which is perhaps still wading through the 44,000 submissions to the consultation, and the debate, such that one can have a debate about a Planning Bill that has not been written yet, seems to have been captured by those who do not like whatever might be in it. What then to make of the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Select Committee’s report on the future of the planning system, which concluded with concerns about "the lack of detail, which has made it very difficult to assess the possible practical implications. The Government should consult on the details of proposed reforms to prevent unintended consequences and harms resulting from them”. Does the Select Committee’s report provide proponents of the White Paper with the homework required to make the proposals more palatable? Or does the report provide opponents of the White Paper with enough ammunition to hole it below the water line? And what is a Select Committee anyway? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Clive Betts MP, the Chair of the HCLG Committee who you will hear say that 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. This quote now features on a 50 Shades of Planning Podcast t-shirt, which is available to buy in black or white and in S, M and L sizes. If you would like one please email samstafford@hotmail.com. Some reading to accompany this episode. Planning for the future https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-future The future of the planning system in England, a report by the HCLG Committee https://committees.parliament.uk/work/634/the-future-of-the-planning-system-in-england/publications/ Notes on planning reform: “the algorithm warmed us all up”, by Zack Simons https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/notes-on-planning-reform-the-algorithm-warmed-us-all-up Taking Stock - The geography of housing need, permissions and completions, by Lichfields https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/taking-stock-the-geography-of-housing-need-permissions-and-completions Some accompanying listening. White Paper by Finley Quaye https://youtu.be/GK8osGlsVgE