50 Shades of Planning

What is town planning for? The Royal Town Planning Institute champions the ‘power of planning in creating prosperous places and vibrant communities’. The Town & Country Planning Association ‘works to challenge, inspire and support people to create healthy, sustainable and resilient places that are fair for everyone’. As Raymond Unwin wrote in the foreword to the Housing, Town Planning, Etc, Act of 1909: "Town Planning has a prosaic sound, but the words stand for a movement which has perhaps a more direct bearing on the life and happiness of great masses of the people than any other single movement of our time”. Who is town planning for? How are we to reconcile these lofty ambitions with the fact that black and other minorities are at least twice as likely to be deprived of green space compared to a white person in the UK; with the fact the average amount of money accrued by owning property over the last decade is £150,000 for the average white family and £0 for the average black family; and with the fact that whilst 3% of White households live in overcrowded accommodation, that figure rises to 22% for Black households, 23% for Indian households and 35% for Pakistani and Bangladeshi households. Does planning remain a progressive force for social justice or has it become a regressive tool for the preservation of the status quo? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Danny Dorling (@dannydorling), Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography and Fellow of St Peter's College at Oxford University; Vicky Payne (@Victoria_Payne), planner and urbanist at URBED; and Ben Southwood (@bswud), Head of Housing, Transport & Urban Space at Policy Exchange. Some accompanying reading. Covid spread as overcrowding doubles among private renters in England. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/24/covid-spread-as-overcrowding-doubles-among-private-renters-in-england 'Capital cities: How the planning system creates housing shortages and drives wealth inequality'.  https://www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-06-13-Capital-cities-how-the-planning-system-creates-housing-shortages-and-drives-wealth-inequality.pdf How London's property boom left Black Britons with nothing. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-18/uk-property-wealth-data-2021-show-big-gap-between-black-and-white-homeowners One in three adults in Britain 'do not have a safe or secure home'. https://www.bigissue.com/latest/one-in-three-adults-in-britain-do-not-have-a-safe-or-secure-home/#:~:text=One%20in%20three%20adults%20in%20Britain%20do%20not%20have%20a,housing%20crisis%20than%20white%20people. Resourcing Public Planning https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy/2019/november/resourcing-public-planning/  A housing design audit for England. http://placealliance.org.uk/research/national-housing-audit/ The cost of the cuts: The impact on local government and poorer communities. https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/Summary-Final.pdf All that is solid: How the great housing disaster defines our times and what we can do about it. http://www.dannydorling.org/books/allthatissolid/ Deciphering the fall and rise in the net capital share. https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/deciphering-the-fall-and-rise-in-the-net-capital-share/ Some accompanying listening. Fixer Upper by Yard Act https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJj3soqn-4

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 Aecom Director Ben Castell (@ben_castell). Their conversation takes in the New Deal For Communities; CABE; good practice design guides; the Housing Market Renewal Initiative and neighbourhood planning. Ben's song selections. Brickbat by Billy Bragg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgKKZSF04Ks Clandestino by Manu Chao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSEUH4KRfN8 Police & Thieves by Junior Murvin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlP3J3J3Upw Honest Life by Courtney Marie Andrews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cv0ATLNDJQ Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town by Kenny Rogers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1e9p6J89rQ NW5 by Madness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1J2-_u9DOM Ben's Spotify playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6IXe20tZ0BPbd4kwTa6iN3?si=uDSo6r43TjuwQ-rEZkwcEA&dl_branch=1

"Thanks to our planning system, we have nowhere near enough homes in the right places. People cannot afford to move to where their talents can be matched with opportunity. Businesses cannot afford to grow and create jobs. The whole thing is beginning to crumble and the time has come to do what too many have for too long lacked the courage to do – tear it down and start again." So said the Prime Minister in the Foreword to 2020’s ‘Planning for the future’ White Paper. “Instead of new homes being built where demand to live is greatest, they will now be built where a group of Conservative backbenchers in the south east think people should live.” So said Paul Brocklehurst, Chair of the Land Promoters & Developers Federation, in response to the Government’s decision not to proceed with the changes to the standard method for calculating local housing need that were consulted upon in parallel to the White Paper. Whilst the second iteration of the standard method represents business as usual for the majority of LPAs, for the 33 London authorities and 19 other largest cities the new standard method represents, at face value at least, something of a headache. That is, of course, unless the new standard method is exposed in short order as the sticking plaster that many take it for. If not the ‘mutant algorithm’ though, and not this second iteration, then how should a standard method be calculated? And if a Government with a healthy majority cannot tackle what could have been a relatively straightforward change to the standard method how likely now are the genuinely reformist elements of the White Paper? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Christopher Young QC of No. 5 Chambers (@No5Planning); Shelly Rouse (@rouse_shelly), Principal Consultant at the Planning Advisory Service (@pas_team); and Colin Robinson, Director at Lichfields (@LichfieldsUK). Some accompanying reading. Government response to the local housing need proposals in "Changes to the current planning system. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-the-current-planning-system Chris' Topic Paper - 'It's the housing numbers, Stupid.' https://www.linkedin.com/posts/christopher-young-qc-3097b822_article-on-the-governments-new-standard-activity-6709337597438672897-FdwJ Lichfields' blog - 'Your Official Top 20: The new Standard Method and the cities/urban centres uplift'. https://lichfields.uk/blog/2021/january/11/your-official-top-20-the-new-standard-method-and-the-citiesurban-centres-uplift/ Lichfields' blog - 'Mangling the mutant: change to the standard method for local housing need'. https://lichfields.uk/blog/2020/december/16/mangling-the-mutant-change-to-the-standard-method-for-local-housing-need/ Inside Housing - 'Councils hit out at government’s ‘unrealistic’ new planning formula'. https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/councils-hit-out-at-governments-unrealistic-new-planning-formula-69616 Some accompanying viewing. Dumb & Dumber - Official Trailer https://youtu.be/l13yPhimE3o

“We should aspire to pass on our heritage to our successors, not depleted but enhanced. In order to do that, we need to bring about a profound and lasting change in the buildings that we build, which is one of the reasons we are placing a greater emphasis on locally popular design, quality and access to nature, through our national planning policies and introducing the National Model Design Codes.” So said Robert Jenrick when announcing at the end of January 2021 the Government’s response to the report of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. As well as the creation of an ‘Office for Place’, which is to support local communities in determining the standard for all new buildings in their area, the NPPF is to be revised to place greater emphasis on beauty, place-making and, of course, tree-lined streets. In addition, a new paragraph 127 of the NPPF will state that all LPAs should prepare design guides or codes consistent with the principles set out in the National Design Guide and the new National Model Design Code (NMDC). The NMDC itself though, as one of it’s authors, David Rudlin of URBED has admitted, is not a code at all but a guide to writing codes.  An increased emphasis on the design quality of new development, and a national framework for design standards for LPAs to set policy and determine individual decisions by, can only be a good thing. There seems to be a huge leap though from where we are now to all LPAs having a design code or guide in place within three years, which the Chief Planner has written to them requesting. And what, for example, is the Code’s relationship with the White Paper? Are Codes for every street or just ‘Growth’ and ‘Renewal’ areas? And whilst agreement on what constitutes a good design code should be easy to achieve, agreement on what constitutes good design, let alone beautiful design, is perhaps harder achieve. Are expectations for what a NMDC can achieve being set unrealistically high? Joining Sam Stafford to discuss these issues in this episode are Paul Smith, Vicky Payne, Louise Wood and Ben Woolnough. Paul (@paul_slg) is Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group; Vicky (@Victoria_Payne) is a planner and urban designer at URBED; Louise (@LWood_Cornwall) is Service Director for Planning at Cornwall Council; and Ben (@benhoward_w) is Major Sites & Infrastructure Manager at East Suffolk Council. Some accompanying reading. National Model Design Code https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957205/National_Model_Design_Code.pdf Guidance Notes for Design Codes https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957207/Guidance_notes_for_Design_Codes.pdf Design Skills in English Local Authorities https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/otherpub/design-skills-english-local-authorities ‘Unlocking The Code’ by David Rudlin https://www.bdonline.co.uk/opinion/unlocking-the-code-with-one-of-its-authors/5110463.article Some accompanying listening. Code of the Streets by Gang Starr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kwZUeog30

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 Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the RTPI. Their conversation takes in Victoria's early work at Wycombe District Council, her move, via Steer Davies Gleave, to the Greater London Authority and from there her role at the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation. Victoria's song selections. Born Slippy (Nuxx) by Underworld https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiMrrleH_hI Empire State Of Mind Part (II) Broken Down by Alicia Keys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHagigQRKqU One Day Like This by Elbow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NFV8dHrZYM We Built This City by Starship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1b8AhIsSYQ&list=PL6wOMbu1YOMf3upseLQzqThCAnl4iMjxf&index=162 Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd https://youtu.be/YR5ApYxkU-U You Get What You Give by New Radicals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7-CKirWZE Victoria's Spotify playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5IxkETjpfPe4rAMsUnr87y?si=LEgI_Y_RQnW0yYM9JTlK6Q

As a 50 Shades of Planning Podcast listener you will be perceptive enough to have spotted that the United Kingdom has left the European Union. Town Planners will have noted in so doing that the regulatory regime for the assessment of environmental impact within the UK’s planning processes has been at least heavily influenced by, and at most grown to mirror, the rules, regulations and judgements emanating from and handed down in Brussells and Strasbourg. Environmental Assessment is on the Government’s ‘to do list’, though perhaps not very near the top. Environment Minister George Eustice said in July 2020 that a new consultation on changing our approach to environmental assessment and mitigation in the planning system would be launched that Autumn. It wasn’t, but when it does appear what will it herald for EA in the UK after the EU? Is Brexit a welcome opportunity to reset EA on to a more proportionate footing? Is Brexit an unwelcome threat to a well-established regulatory regime that could be exploited through gaps in an ever-evolving planning process? Might Brexit actually be both? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Janice Morphet (Visiting Professor at UCL), Simon Ricketts (Partner at Town Legal LLP) and Lucy Wood (Director in the National Infrastructure & Environmental Planning Team at Barton Willmore). Simon is on Twitter at @sricketts1 and Janice is @janicemorphet. Lucy wisely steers clear. Some accompanying reading. George Eustace’s speech on environmental recovery (July 2020). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/george-eustice-speech-on-environmental-recovery-20-july-2020 ‘Environmental Impact Assessment fit for the 21st Century’ by William Nicolle and Benedict McAleenan. https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Planning-Anew.pdf ‘Brexit & Planning’ by Simon. https://simonicity.com/2020/12/27/brexit-planning-an-update/ Achieving government’s long-term environmental goals by the Public Accounts Committee. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/138912/time-is-running-out-government-must-move-on-from-aspirational-words-and-start-taking-the-hard-decisions/ ‘Since I Left EU – The Future of Environmental Assessment’, a Town Legal Webinar. https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/fBb38De_I4Yj_k3pdgTb-tU_ND_s0bmvcec2hWwWykytvXxfms3GzplB-ie0MyjUXIRcvgLdnUPizMlV.WMevhO6_9R0nDfLx?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=1ccFNtFCRsiD014UPCtfGQ.1611249256049.2050083b081ea8cc0a1284d86864b609&_x_zm_rhtaid=371 Some accompanying listening. 'Frogs, Toads and Newts' by Frits Wentink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJHCRDvlEos

Eutrophication might not have been a word that planners came across too often before November 2018, but many now know if they didn’t before then that it is the process by which nutrient-laden water encourages algae growth to the extent that it starves water and sediments of oxygen, forms a barrier to birds feeding, smothers seagrass beds and saltmarshes. Until November 2018 it was largely the case that an Appropriate Assessment undertaken to accompany development proposals affecting nutrient-sensitive Special Protection Areas (SPAs) would conclude that any impacts could be mitigated against. That month, however, the European Court of Justice ruled in two joined cases relating to the EU Habitats Directive, which together are know as the ‘Dutch case’. Depending on your point of view, this judgement either significantly raised the assessment bar or provided welcome clarification on how the Directive should have been being interpreted anyway. Either way, subsequent advice from Natural England, at first in relation to the Solent SPA, recommended that LPAs in and around sensitive areas should withhold planning permission unless negative impacts of development can be ruled out completely. Eighteen months later the ramifications of the requirement for nitrogen and phosphorous neutrality are still being felt. What has the impact of this issue been? How far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affected? And, with change afoot for both the post-Brexit environmental assessment regime and the planning system more broadly, what lessons can be drawn for planning at the scale of a river catchment? Sam Stafford puts these questions to James Cording (Turley), Max Tant (Kent County Council), Graham Horton (Natural England) and Marian Cameron (Marian Cameron Consultants Ltd). Some accompanying reading. Version 5 of Natural England’s ‘Advice on Achieving Nutrient Neutrality for New Development in the Solent Region’. https://www.push.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Natural-England%E2%80%99s-latest-guidance-on-achieving-nutrient-neutrality-for-new-housing-development-June-2020.pdf ‘Solent nitrogen neutrality: 18 months on, where are we now?’ by Turley. https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/solent-nitrogen-neutrality-18-months-where-are-we-now The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Nitrate Reduction Programme https://www.hiwwt.org.uk/reducing-nitrates-solent

Consensus between economists is rare, but almost all agree that there is a moral argument for the taxation of land. Planning reform, death and taxes have long been three of life’s certainties. Land taxation and the concept of betterment dates back at least to the time of Henry VI who is thought to have captured the value of land improved by royal investment in flood defences. Winston Churchill spoke in 1919 of the “unearned increment” accrued by landowners following public investment in infrastructure and called for the state to capture more of this uplift for the public benefit. The MHCLG Select Committee concluded in it’s 2018 Land Value Capture report that ‘there is scope for central and local government to claim a greater proportion of land value increases through reforms to existing taxes and charges, improvements to compulsory purchase powers, or through new mechanisms of land value capture.’ History has shown though that attempts to capture land value increases have had mixed success. Is it actually possible to capture a fair share for the community without discouraging owners from bringing land to market? Liz Peace, referring to her work as Chair of the 2017 CIL Review Group, said that ‘it is probably the most intellectually difficult thing I have ever grappled with’. Councillor Martin Tett of the Local Government Association told the MHCLG Select Committee that “if it was easy everyone would have done it years ago”. How much value is it right to capture, how should it be captured and who should spend it on what? Sam Stafford puts these questions to Richard Harwood OBE QC, Toby Lloyd and Gilian Macinnes. Richard (@richardharwood2) is Joint Head of Chambers at 39 Essex Chambers and a case editor of the Journal of Planning and Environment Law Toby (@tobylloyd) is a consultant at BuiltPlace, former Head of Policy at Shelter and a former special advisor inside No. 10. Gilian (@GilianGMAC) is a Director at Gilian Macinnes Associates, Interim Head of Planning & Development at Ashford Borough Council and a member of the CIL Review Group. Some accompanying reading. 'Land Value Capture: Attitudes from the housebuilding industry' by RICS. https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/research/research-reports/land-value-capture-attitudes-from-the-house-building-industry-on-alternative-mechanisms/ The Compulsory Purchase Association's submission to the MHCLG Committee.  https://www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org/files/Submission-to-the-Housing,-Communities-and-Local-Government-Committee.pdf The MHCLG Committee's Land Value Capture report. https://www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org/files/House-of-Commons---LVC---Committee-Report---Sept-2018.pdf 'Land Value Capture' by Richard Harwood. http://www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org/files/Land-Value-Capture-paper-final.pdf 'A New Approach To Developer Contributions' by the CIL Review Team. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589637/CIL_REPORT_2016.pdf 'Grounds for Change - The case for land reform in modern England' by Shelter. https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/1779418/Grounds_For_Change.pdf Planning for the Future; Challenges of introducing a new Infrastructure Levy need to be addressed' by Christine Whitehead, Tony Crook and John Henneberry. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lselondon/planning-for-the-future-challenges-of-introducing-a-new-infrastructure-levy-need-to-be-addressed/ Some accompanying listening. Taxman by The Beatles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGn7eUU4kA This Land Is Your Land by My Morning Jacket (Woody Guthrie cover). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvTezD4XIU

'Can the British plan? Sometimes it seems unlikely. Across the world we see grand designs and visionary projects: new airport terminals, nuclear power stations, high-speed railways, and glittering buildings. It all seems an unattainable goal on Britain's small and crowded island; and yet perhaps this is too pessimistic. For the British have always planned, and much of what we have today is the result of past plans, successfully implemented...' This is the synopsis of 'Great British Plans' by Ian Wray that Sam Stafford cannily pilfers for the introduction to this episode in which Sam discusses the book with both Ian and his daughter, and past 50 Shades contributor, Katie Wray (@kluw). The book takes in London's squares, Milton Keynes, 'HS1', the motorways and the secret first electronic computers. Sam, Ian and Katie's conversation takes in the glorious revolution, black swans, lawyers, lobbyists and mavericks. 'Great British Plans' can be heartily recommended to students of history and as well as students of town planning. The relationship between planning and politics is a path well-trodden, but perhaps less well appreciated is the relationship between planning and the culture, the institutions and, indeed, the institutional culture of this scepted isle. It is easy to see how electoral priorities drive short-term political decision-making, but the book explores the factors at play, or more often in fact not at play, in longer-term political decision making, which will be of interest to anybody interested in why change happens, or more often in fact, why change does not happen. Great British Plans. https://www.routledge.com/Great-British-Plans-Who-made-them-and-how-they-worked/Wray/p/book/9780415711425 Some accompanying listening. Ian's band’s lockdown version of Blue Skies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP-KkkoE4mM&ab_channel=OutoftheBlueJazzOrchestra

Is it right that old times be forgotten, asks Robert Burns in the opening line of Auld Lang Syne. Instinctively one might want to say yes to that insofar as 2020 is concerned. Much has been lost, but it’s also right to say that much has been gained too. We are at home more, a trend that might have happened at a much slower pace if at all in some places, and we are perhaps working more patiently and emphatically with each other, which is a trend that probably would not have happened at all. It has made us appreciate more the old times before 2020. The simple joy of just being with people, which we have learnt not to take for granted again. We can also take heart from the simple fact that, having faced down the challenges that this year has presented, we can be a little less fearful of whatever else is around the corner. You will have spotted, all being well, the ‘Part 2’ in the title of this episode and so have already listened to Part 1, but if not, and it is by no means mandatory to have done so, this is the second of two episodes that feature reflections on an extraordinary year from past contributors to the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast. Sam Stafford's only editorial stipulation was that recordings were about five minutes in length. Whatever people wanted to talk about was completely up to them. You will hear in this episode erudite and insightful observations from: Lisa McFarlane;David Rudlin;Greg Dickson;Andrew Taylor;Stanzie Bell;Claire Petricca-Riding;Vanessa Eggleston; andMark Parkinson. Lisa (@lmcfarlane01) is a Director and RIBA Specialist Conservation Architect at Seven Architecture and featured on Episode 31. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-mcfarlane-ba-hons-barch-msc-che-riba-sca-ihbc-3ab5412 David (@Davidurbedcoop1) is a Director at URBED and featured on Episode 12. https://www.linkedin.com/in/djrudlin Greg (@GregDickson1) is a Director at Barton Willmore and a regular contributor to the podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-dickson-4762263a Andrew (@AndrewJTaylor3) is Group Planning Director at Countryside and featured on Episode 17. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-taylor-frtpi-42555131 Stanzie is a Barrister at Kings Chambers (@KCPlanningTeam) and featured on Episode 32. https://www.linkedin.com/in/constanze-stanzie-bell Claire (@PetriccaRiding) is a Partner and National Head of Planning and Environmental Law at Irwin Mitchell and featured on Episode 25. https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairepetriccariding Vanessa is a Partner at i-Transport and featured on Episode 23. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-eggleston-6132131b0 Mark (@MarkA_Parkinson) is Chief Executive Officer at Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and featured on Episode 9. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-parkinson-972816b3 Some accompanying reading. The blog Sam wrote whilst on furlough leave in April. http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2020/04/memories-of-200809-career-advice-for-my.html