The Planner - December 2014 by The Planner

DECEMBER 2014 HEROES OF PLANNING // p.18 • HOW WOULD YOUNG PLANNERS CHANGE PLANNING? // p.20 • ARE WE DESIGNING YOUNG PEOPLE OUT OF CITIES? // p.22 • MEANWHILE USE // p.26 • ZOE GREEN LEADING PLANNING’S NEXT GENERATION // p.30

T H E B U S I N ES S M O N T H LY FO R P L A N N I N G P R O F ES S IO N A LS

PLANNER

THE

THE CHA AGE NGE NDA

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BRITAIN’S YOUNG PLANNERS LOOK TO THE FUTURE

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CONTENTS

PLANNER 11 30

THE

D ECEMBER

20 14

“I NEVER HAD ASPIRATIONS AS A YOUNG CHILD TO BECOME A PLANNER, IT WAS SOMETHING I FOUND OUT ABOUT LATER ON”

NEWS

6 Land ‘trader’ system must be reformed

7 Political rhetoric discourages infrastructure investment, says survey

8 Give people a say about where they live 9 Sizewell C paves the way for environmental consideration 10 Back to the future 11 UK to get first onshore shale colleges

OPINION 12 Chris Shepley: The most important moment of my planning life 16 Charlotte Taylor: Environmental resilience: time to embrace change 16 Chris Jesson: Planning for an ageing population 17 Eleanor Gingell: The empathetic planner

09 QUOTE UNQUOTE

“LAND, IT SEEMS, IS JUST TOO VALUABLE FOR SELF EXPRESSION” LOUIS WOODHEAD, LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK, SPEAKING AT THE ‘WHO HAS A RIGHT TO THE CITY?’ TALK AT THE BUILDING CENTRE

17 Iram Mohammed: How do we future-proof ourselves?

FEATURES

INSIGHT

18 Jane Jacobs? Peter Hall? Your head of department? We asked young planners to name their planning heroes

38 Legal landscape: Opinion, blogs, and news from the legal side of planning

20 How would young planners change planning for the better? 22 Are we designing young people out of our cities? We ask young planners and listen to a teenager who campaigned to save London’s Southbank skate park 26 RTPI award-winner Jennifer Angus offers her view on how ‘meanwhile use’ can unlock the value of space

40 Career development: Building confidence

42 Plan Ahead – our pick of upcoming events for the planning profession and beyond 44 RTPI round-up: News and interviews from the institute 50 Plan B: The double life of planning firebrand Hugh Ellis

30 From playing citybuilding video games Zoe Green went on to masterplan a nation. David Blackman talks to the RTPI Young Planner of the Year

COV E R I M AG E | PE T E R S E A R L E

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24/11/2014 09:39

PLAN UPFRONT

Leaderr The challenges facing planning's next generation As the sun sets on the RTPI’s centenary year, it’s surely ﬁtting that this – the ﬁnal edition of The Planner for 2014 – shifts its focus from the profession’s proud past to those who are already becoming key to its future – an emerging generation of young planning professionals. In this edition, the editorial of The Planner has sought the opinions of young planners, urban designers, legal professionals and the current RTPI Young Planner of the Year – Zoe Green. As you will see, the calibre and knowledge of those featured is a credit to our profession and serves as proof of the potential that planners have to take a lead role in shaping the future. No event demonstrates this better than the annual RTPI Young Planners Conference. This year the conference

Charlotte Morphet, RTPI Trustee for Young Planners

Charlotte Morphet was held in Bristol. It was inspiring to see a group of planners so engaged and grappling with the issues we face as a profession. What’s clear to me is that the future of our profession is in very capable hands. Today’s young planners will have to grapple with questions of population growth, demographic shifts, climate change and new technology. As we all know, good planning is key to ensuring that places are

shaped properly for future generations, whatever the topic – be it in housing, infrastructure, or the wellbeing of the populace. Within the United Kingdom, greater devolution both at national and regional levels will place new and exciting demands on the planning profession.

"TODAY’S YOUNG PLANNERS WILL HAVE TO GRAPPLE WITH QUESTIONS OF POPULATION GROWTH, DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NEW TECHNOLOGY"

This is why next year’s convention is discussing this important change. As the current trustee representing Young Planners on the RTPI board, I ensure that the younger voices of the profession are represented. I am proud to be part of the board at a time when the RTPI is offering such commitment to the future of the profession by providing free student membership. The RTPI has always offered support to those starting their careers, whether through the current Young Planners Committees, or the previous system of Junior Sectors. I encourage all young planners to make the most of your local young planners events and the networking and career development they provide. So, please enjoy this special issue. And if you are a young planner yourself, please do make the most of the opportunities our institute has to offer.

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Average net circulation 20,646 (October - December 2013) © The Planner is published on behalf of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) by Redactive Publishing Ltd (RPL), 17 Britton St, London EC1M 5TP. This magazine aims to include a broad range of opinion about planning issues and articles do not necessarily reﬂect the views of the RTPI nor should such opinions be relied upon as statements of fact. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in any print or electronic format, including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet, or in any other format in whole or in partww in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher. While all due care is taken in writing and producing this magazine, neither RTPI nor RPL accept any liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. Printed by Polestar Colchester Ltd.

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NEWS

Analysis { HOUSING

Land ‘trader’ system must be reformed By Laura Edgar

“THE COUNTRY REQUIRES 300,000 HOMES A YEAR AND ONLY HALF THAT NUMBER ARE BEING BUILT, SO EACH YEAR THE BACKLOG IS LARGER”

l WHO

Reformation of the UK’s land trading system is crucial to solving the UK’s housing needs. This was just one of several key messages to come out of last month’s Young Planner’s Conference held at Bristol’s M Shed. Speaker after speaker emphasised the difficulties of acquiring and developing land without loss or excessive risk. Many blamed the “trader” system of land acquisition that enables the seller of an artificially “scarce” resource to make big gains up front based on notional profits, without having assumed any of the cost or risk of development. As a consequence, house builders struggle to build good-quality housing served by decent infrastructure while making a profit – and buyers have to deal with a market where price inflation is almost out of control. The country requires 300,000 homes a year and only half that number are being built, so each year the backlog is getting larger – the Home Builders Federation estimate it to be 1.7 million. Additionally, as a result of expensive land and therefore expensive homes and high rental costs, some people will never be able to own their home. If the UK is to alleviate its housing crisis and meet its housing need, it is essential that changes be made to the land trading system. So what exactly did the speakers say about land valuation and land ownership? The Planner tells all.

S A I D W H AT AT T H E YO U N G P L A N N E R S C O N F E R E N C E

“I believe very much in strong planning. I think we need to strengthen our planning resources. The strongest and the best planning comes out of responsible land ownership.” “Land ownership is not all about chasing numbers, which has led to the worst mistakes that have been made in planning. It must also be about the quality and that is where that strength of land ownership comes in.” – George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol

“Why do we go on ﬁeld trips to Holland and Germany to see what they do, and then come back and don’t do what they do? It is correct and it is insane. The essence of what they do and that we don’t do is that they have a much more strategic relationship between land ownership and planning.” “Why can we not do what we see in Holland and Germany? Well, yes, we can. You have to be part of the movement to make this real.”

“We need to address the problem of land value. This is at the heart of our dysfunctional housing market. Agricultural land is worth £15,000 per hectare. Housing land with planning permission is £3 million per hectare. There’s a whole industry around trading in land and this directly impacts on the quality of housing.” – Gerry Hughes, national head of planning, development and regeneration, GVA

“If groceries had risen at the same rate as house prices since the 1970s, we would now be paying over 50 quid for a chicken.” "More than a quarter of adults under 30 still live in their childhood bedroom. But only 15 per cent of people in a recent survey said lack of housing was one of the most important issues facing Britain today.” – Peter Roberts, associate planner, Barton Willmore

“The URBED Wolfson Economics Prize entry won because it worked out that the essence of land use planning is economic.” – David Cowans, chief executive, Places for People

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24/11/2014 10:36

PLAN UPFRONT

443

senior business leaders took part in CBI/URS Infrastructure Survey

per cent think energy infrastructure will worsen in the next ﬁve years

per cent think transport infrastructure will worsen in the next ﬁve years

Political rhetoric discourages infrastructure investment, concludes survey Although improvements have been made to infrastructure policy during this coalition government, the political uncertainty present in the UK means it is still unable to deliver the upgrades needed. This was the message from the latest CBI/URS Infrastructure Survey of 443 senior business leaders. Taking the long view: A new approach to infrastructure reveals that most businesses believe political uncertainty discourages potential investors. Additionally, all infrastructure providers and almost all businesses feel that the case for High Speed Rail 2 would

have been easier if it was part of a longterm plan. On the other hand, more than two-thirds see policies such as the UK Guarantee Scheme and growth planning reforms as positive developments. Katja Hall, deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: “While the policy environment has improved, businesses still don’t see upgrades to mission-critical parts of our infrastructure on the ground in practice – and don’t expect to anytime soon. “Where hard decisions have been taken on issues like energy, populist political rhetoric threatens to send us backwards.”

Master plan unveiled for Rosyth regeneration “What the National Planning Policy Framework has done is enshrine the current trader development as the development model. But there are other development models. And practically nowhere else in Europe uses that development model.” “New Towns Act. Housed 2.8 million people in 25 years. But go to Letchworth because they paid for themselves and go on paying for themselves. There has never been a better idea than land value capture.” “We have to get to the heart of this single issue. Who beneﬁts from the uplift in land value?” – Hugh Ellis, head of policy, Town & Country Planning Association

I M AG E | I STO C K

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The master plan for one of Scotland’s largest urban regeneration schemes has been unveiled in Fife, with proposals for £500 million of investment and the potential to create 3,500 jobs. The 120-acre Rosyth Waterfront development would see five zones incorporating a business and employment park; the Rosyth Gateway zone and shops, cafes, bars, galleries, housing and waterfront gardens built in the shadow of the Forth road and rail bridges. The proposals were announced by the site’s owners, the Scarborough Muir Group (SMG), which bought the former Ministry of Defence naval base in 2004 and is now undertaking a consultation exercise with Fife Council and the public. The site is located to the north and east of the Port of Rosyth and contains heavy industry, commercial warehousing and offices, cutting off neighbouring communities from the coastline. Ronnie Muir, a director of SMG, said: “SMG has spent the last 10 years remediating the former MoD fuel storage facility. The process is almost complete and the site is now ready to be developed and brought into use for the Rosyth public and tourists to enjoy and benefit from.”

Clegg unveils infrastructure package for the North

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced measures to electrify rail routes in the North after describing the infrastructure as “decrepit.” The package of measures, announced as part of the Northern Futures project, aims to upgrade and electrify rail networks between Manchester, Leeds and Sheﬃeld. Clegg explained: “One of the key things that comes up time and again is the need for better transport links – electriﬁcation for the rail networks and renovation of the dilapidated commuter lines. “London and the South-East has had billions of transport investment over recent years from HS1 to Crossrail to the Northern Line extension. The perfectly reasonable requests I have been hearing from the North are basics that are needed if we are to create a true economic hub in the north of England.” Stephen Litherland, speaking to The Planner in his role as chair of RTPI North-East, said: “If the north of England is to compete with the major cities in the South, improved infrastructure and faster connections between the major northern cities is essential. “Following the government’s support for the HS3 initiative last week, it now looks like the principle of the ‘northern powerhouse’ is gathering political momentum and we look forward to seeing more details in the near future.”

CLEGG ON ‘DECREPIT’ TRAINS: “THEY WOULD NOT BE DEEMED ACCEPTABLE ON LONDON COMMUTER LINES, AND THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE IN THE NORTH”

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24/11/2014 10:36

NEWS

Analysis { PRIZE XXXXXXXX

Give people a say about where they live

ommunities want to have more of an inﬂuence over what goes on in their area, an RTPI centenary survey has revealed. The poll, ‘What people want from their communities’, features in Creating Economically Successful Places, the last in 2014’s Planning Horizons series. The results reveal concerns about the ability of national and local politicians to address the nation’s economic challenges. In particular, communities believe that investment in local services is the best way to generate economic growth – a position highlighted in Creating Economically Successful Places. According to the report, towns and cities need to do more than simply recruit businesses into to their area. Instead, the overwhelming message is that they should build and invest from within – and planners are in the position to identify which qualities of a place can be built on.

The survey also took into consideration what the public l think makes a place appealing to live in.

WHAT MAKES A PLACE ATTRACTIVE? 1

Cost of living

Local amenities

3 Community safety

Green spaces

5 Walkability

Friends and family

Good transport

Local economy

Diversity of community

10 High-speed internet

The survey of 2,083 members of the public revealed:

per cent and 41 per cent believe national and local political leaders respectively are unprepared for future economic challenges

per cent think their local area will improve over the next ﬁve years

per cent want more say on planning and how their communities are developed

per cent feel there are too few economic opportunities

36 +

per cent think their local area is good, with 21 per cent thinking it is excellent

49 +

per cent think the services in their area are good

l W H AT

per cent think the people making decisions about development make good decisions

per cent have responded to a local planning application or decision in the past three years

THE PLANNERS THINK

Eleanor Gingell, British Empire Medal 2014 recipient for services to neighbourhood planning

“Perhaps properly involving local people in local decisions would help to address the ﬁnding that only 23 per cent of people thought that decisions made are coordinated.”

“In my experience, people really care about the places they live in. With 30 per cent thinking that their area has got worse, it’s unsurprising that 79 per cent of people want to be more involved in how their community develops.

Cath Ranson, RTPI president

“The fact that cost of living and local amenities score so highly is thought-provoking. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the cost of living extends to food and transport as well as bills. At the Young Planners Conference, a signiﬁcant fact has stuck by me – the most deprived often have the furthest to travel to access facilities, thus increasing their relative cost of living.

“With the general election just six months away, all the political parties need to recognise that local people want more, not less say, over the future development of their communities. Our poll also shows they are ahead of politicians in understanding that what makes a place economically successful involves proper investment in infrastructure and local services, as well as maintaining an attractive area with green spaces and good local amenities.”

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24/11/2014 10:19

PLAN UPFRONT EDF Energy aims to build a new power station with two reactors on land next to the current Sizewell B station

Novel coalgasiﬁcation project proposed for the Firth of Forth

Sizewell C paves the way for environmental consideration Sizewell C’s evidence plan shows how environmental protection can be at the centre of large-scale developments, says Natural England. EDF Energy has drawn up the evidence plan alongside various relevant bodies including the Environment Agency, Suffolk County Council and the RSPB, while the planning inspectorate had a watching brief. The plan lays out the information the company intends to collect to inform a Habitat Regulations Assessment for the proposed Suffolk power station. The site is close to internationally important wetland, heathland and marine habitats home to several protected species. Evidence plans launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2012 are available to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project applicants in England in

Year’s delay for transfer of regeneration powers to NI councils Northern Ireland’s Minister for Social Development Mervyn Storey has dropped a political bombshell by announcing that key regeneration and community development powers won’t be transferred from his department to the new ‘super councils’ when they are established next April. The legislation involved will not now be in place until April 2016 – a year later than originally expected. Storey wrote to the new local authorities to explain that there would be a delay in transferring the functions from his department to the councils

agreement with the relevant statutory nature conservation bodies. The evidence plans by EDF include identification of any potential environmental effects of the power station on the European protected sites, describe what evidence needs to be provided and set out an approach that will consider the effects Sizewell C will have in combination with other plans and projects. Rob Cooke, director of sustainable development at Natural England, said: “By making it easier for developers to incorporate environmental protection into their designs, evidence plans such as this mean our important habitats are properly looked after while large-scale projects can proceed more smoothly.” EDF said that the process of producing the evidence plan was a constructive one that would help in considering the environment in future.

because the required legislation had also included measures about the transfer of functions from the Housing Executive and a commitment to review the fitness of the housing stock. These elements proved problematic and have now been withdrawn. Ministers have decided this will need separate legislation. Storey said: “Unfortunately, the timetable for passage of the bill through the Assembly means that I cannot be certain that the legislation would become law in time for an April 2015 transfer.” Environment minister Mark H Durkan said: “It’s very important to have regeneration at a local level. These functions combined with local planning, local economic development, local tourism and councils’ current functions, will truly allow councils to be more flexible to local need and make a difference to how they shape their areas and communities. “It is disappointing that the powers will not confer until 2016.” I M AG E S | G E T T Y

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An ambitious plan to extract gas from under the Firth of Forth to power millions of homes is being drawn up following a major coal find. Cluff Natural Resources has announced plans to build what would be the UK’s first underground coal gasification (UCG) plant. The company reported that an independent consultant had verified a find of 335 million tonnes of coal under the Firth in the “Kincardine Licence Area” – more than 43 million tonnes of which it said was suitable for UCG – and is currently working on a planning application for the project. The licence covers an area of 37.6 square kilometres of tidal estuary near the petrochemical plant at Grangemouth, the Longannet power station and “a number of other energy-intensive industries which could benefit from a new low-cost source of fuel gas and petrochemical feedstock,” according to the company. Environmental groups have already raised objections to the scheme, citing fears that the process could bring toxic substances to the surface and disrupt the ecosystem in the Firth of Forth. The process of gasification involves drilling horizontally into a seam and then injecting air and oxygen to produce syngas – a mixture of combustible gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and carbon dioxide.

Cluff says the UCG plant would benefit the area, as it would result “in the creation of new jobs, and help protect existing industry as well as create significant supply chain benefits”

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24/11/2014 10:19

NEWS

Analysis { RTPI NATHANIEL LICHFIELD LECTURE

Back to the future By Laura Edgar

There’s nothing new in city governance, said Professor Tony Travers in this year’s RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture, but it could revive English democracy “It may well be that city regional and county combined authority government is what comes to be seen as English devolution.” That was the conclusion Professor Tony Travers of LSE’s School of Government drew when delivering the RTPI's annual Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture at University College London last month. In ‘Future trends in city and county governance’, Travers took his audience through a history of government in Britain, from the founding of the City of London Corporation in 1067 and the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215, right through to the present day. British government is long evolved, he noted, and not just one institution – everything from the civil service and the NHS is involved. If one part of this system is not functioning properly, all the others are affected. The current loss of trust in MPs by the public and a decline in election turnout indicates that some part of the system is not functioning well. “We are witnessing the slow death of the major political parties,” he argued. That said, by international measures the UK is better run than people think. Travers cited research by the University of Gothenburg for the European Commission to show that the UK has relatively good governance with free elections, free speech, free press and relatively little corruption. So why should the public be so disaffected by politics? Travers highlighted several reasons: c Political parties – particularly the main ones – are out of touch with people; c Politicians are unwilling to confront difficult issues; c The UK is economically and culturally lopsided, leaning too far towards London and the greater South-East; and c The UK government is too centralised. The concentration of power in Westminster does not have to be the case. “People feel cut off given this level of

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centralisation,” argued Travers, who looked to the industrial revolution to show how things had changed. Borough and shire government, with a high level of local decision-making, developed slowly after the City of London Corporation was founded, explained Travers. And during the industrial revolution, local government “flowered”. Business leaders in emerging cities, including Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield, pushed for greater self-governance through municipal corporations. By the end of the 19th-century, city and shire governance was the norm. The UK Parliament was more of an “imperial parliament” than a national one. But with the loss of the empire, the national Parliament began to seize ground from the regions, Travers argued. During the Second World War, government discovered that services such as health could function better if run at a national level. Since then, tax-raising and administrative powers had been further stripped from local government. And now, partly inspired by the Scottish Referendum, the desire for local devolution was increasing again. “None of this is new,” said Travers. The impending transfer of powers to Greater Manchester could come to be seen as the starting point for English devolution. “If Manchester or other city regions are paying taxes, why shouldn’t they keep some of it locally, spend it locally, invest it locally?” Decentralisation in England would benefit the whole of the UK, argued Travers. A return of local powers could be the building blocks for a resurgent English democracy and perhaps a way of restoring the public’s trust in politics, in MPs. “It needs to be done step by step by step if we are to get anywhere,” concluded Travers.

“IF MANCHESTER OR OTHER CITY REGIONS ARE PAYING TAXES, WHY SHOULDN’T THEY KEEP SOME OF IT LOCALLY, SPEND IT LOCALLY, INVEST IT LOCALLY?”

I M A G E | S I M O N R I D G WAY

24/11/2014 10:20

PLAN UPFRONT

64k

The number of jobs that could be created by exploitation of the UK’s shale gas reserves within the next 15 years

Ministerial decisions shake-up mooted The Welsh Government has set out proposals to improve the handling of appeals, call-ins, and other planning and related decisions made by Welsh Ministers. These proposals, now out for consultation, would:

(1) Introduce an expedited system for advertisement appeals in line with the Householder Appeal System and Commercial Appeal System, currently subject to a pilot scheme; (2) Change how called-in applications and appeals by statutory undertakers are dealt with; (3) Introduce the ability for an appeal against non-determination to be returned to the local planning authority for a decision within a prescribed timescale; and (4) Transfer authority to determine certain appeals from the Welsh Ministers to the Planning Inspectorate.

UK to get first onshore shale colleges The National College for Onshore Oil and Gas will be based in Blackpool at the Blackpool and The Fylde College, as well as being linked to colleges in Chester, Redcar and Cleveland, Glasgow and Portsmouth. Speaking at the college on 11 November, energy minister Matthew Hancock explained that shale gas was an opportunity the UK could not afford to miss out on. “I am not prepared to pass up a oncein-a-generation economic opportunity with the potential for industry to invest up to £33 billion in the next 15 years or so. “Families, villages and towns across the UK could benefit from this new industry and its supply chain, which could create 64,500 jobs,” he said. The college has a variety of aims, including to provide specialist skills, equivalent to A-level and up to postgraduate degree level, and to carry out research on how to improve equipment, materials and processes to increase efficiency. Blackpool and The Fylde College welcomed the news that the National College would be based there. Bev Robinson, principal and chief executive, said: “This is very positive news for Blackpool, the Fylde Coast and the whole of Lancashire. Crucially, this will drive long-term investment in the region, meet the demand for highly skilled labour and secure local jobs.”

The administration has insisted that these measures would mean “a more proportionate, cost-eﬀective and streamlined decision-making process which meets the needs of applicants and appellants while improving the processes used by the Planning Inspectorate and the Welsh Government”. Many of these changes have already been implemented in England.

Consultation on new Dublin development plan gets underway Dublin City Council has started preparing its new City Development Plan 2016-2022 and consulting the public on the issues involved. The council has prepared an ‘Issues Paper’ that highlights some of the “big picture’ priority issues for the city over the next six years and has set up a dedicated website where it is encouraging feedback.

The paper says the core strategy of the existing development plan seeks to create a compact, quality, green, well-connected city with a mix of uses that generates longterm economic recovery with sustainable neighbourhoods and socially inclusive communities. It has established a spatial strategy for the city that prioritises the inner city, key

I M A G E S | C O U R T E S Y O F © E D G E F O U N D AT I O N / S H U T T E R S T O C K

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developing areas, key district centres and strategic development and regeneration areas. The strategy seeks to: expand the city centre towards the Docklands, Heuston and Grangegorman; develop sustainable urban villages such as Rathmines and Crumlin; and make new developing/ regeneration areas such as the North Fringe and Docklands. The council is keen for views on questions such as what more needs to be done to improve public urban space and how the city can best provide for new additions to the skyline.

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24/11/2014 10:20

CHRIS SHEPLEY

O Opinion The most important moment of my planning life I was once a young planner myself. And I only achieved that status by the skin of my teeth. I did geography at the London School of Economics (“studied” would be an exaggeration). Some years later, when I was president of the RTPI, the LSE kindly held a lunch to celebrate that honour. Professor Michael Wise, the biggest cheese when I was there, was abroad at the time. But earlier, when he was invited to the event, Wise was nonplussed. He furrowed his brow and vainly sought to dredge up some vague memory of me. He sent for my file, a painfully thin affair, and brushed off thick decades of dust. He silently scanned the contents, then returned it to its dungeon. Urged to divulge the contents, he stressed that the information was confidential, and quite rightly (and fortunately) he declined to do so. However, he did reveal that “there was nothing in the file which could have led one to anticipate the successful career which was to ensue”. This came as no surprise. Towards the end of my fumbling progress through the geography course, I had an interview at Manchester City Council, intending to work as a planner whilst making a brave attempt on a part-time Diploma in Town Planning at the local university. Many will know of Edgar Rose, later a professor at Aston. He was the deputy city planning officer, and he carried out the crossexamination with Tom Hughes, an extraordinarily Welshman who was only slightly less important.

“HE THEN ASKED ME A FURTHER QUESTION, WHICH WENT ON FOR SOME CONSIDERABLE TIME. MAYBE A WEEK. I HADN’T THE REMOTEST IDEA WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT” I had never met such imposing ﬁgures before. I tiptoed into the oﬃce, which seemed the size of the Albert Hall, and headed nervously towards the vast desk. There was a chair, on which I supposed I should sit, and I managed the trip without too many problems. Edgar kindly asked me a straightforward question to open the proceedings. This required me to explain whether

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I had had a good journey from London, and I thought I coped with that OK. He then asked me a further question, which went on for some considerable time. Maybe a week. I hadn’t the remotest idea what he was talking about. I was able to establish that the question had come to a conclusion only when there was a silence in the room. I wondered whether I should perhaps go for a diﬀerent profession. (If you’re one of the people who think that would have been a blessing, you probably haven’t got this far anyway). I think I may have muttered something about something or other, hoping it may bear on his subject. But then, abandoning all hope of a successful career in Manchester, I said that I was afraid I didn’t really understand the question. Edgar turned to

Tom Hughes, observing that he had not made a contribution so far (which was hardly surprising), and asked if he could put it another way. There followed the most memorable and important moment of my planning life. “I’m sorry, Edgar”, lilted Tom, who may well have been the nicest man I’ve ever met. “But I’m afraid I didn’t understand the question either.” Edgar proceeded, at some length, to answer the question himself (I didn’t understand that either), then Tom lobbed me a few easy ones and I got the job, mainly for being a good listener. I spent a number of years there, came to like and admire Edgar, and learned more from my mentor John Millar than I can ever explain. So, if you’re a young planner, feeling you have a pretty poor degree (like me), or a slow start to your career (like me) – things will probably turn out just ﬁne. You will eventually end up as an older planner, of course, and hopefully a successful one. But let’s hope you have fun along the way. I have.

Chris Shepley is the principal of Chris Shepley Planning and former Chief Planning Inspector

I L L U S T R AT I O N | O I V I N D H O V L A N D

24/11/2014 09:41

Quote unquote FROM THE WEB AND THE RTPI

“Planning is held in higher esteem in Scotland or Wales than maybe it is in England.”

“There are two billion people within the Commonwealth nations. Sixty per cent of them are under 30” VIRAL DESAI, COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF PLANNERS YOUNG PLANNERS' NETWORK

JANET ASKEW, VICE PRESIDENT, RTPI, SPEAKING AT THE RTPI YOUNG PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE

<- “The ultimate strength of cities is in their diversity. If you don’t support the diversity of people, places and industries you really are undermining what makes cities great”

“NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT A PLANNER OR TOWN PLANNER IS” TRISTAN DEWHURST, GVA, SPEAKING AT THE RTPI YOUNG PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE

ALICIA GLEN, DEPUTY MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY

97%

“Land, it seems, is just too valuable for “97 PER CENT OF PEOPLE POLLED IN THE OPEN HOUSE self-expression” SURVEY BELIEVE THAT WELL DESIGNED SPACES AFFECT POSITIVELY ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH”

LOUIS WOODHEAD, LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK, SPEAKING AT THE ‘WHO HAS A RIGHT TO THE CITY?’ TALK AT THE BUILDING CENTRE

VICTORIA THORNTON, FOUNDER OF OPEN HOUSE, SPEAKING AT THE ‘WHO HAS A RIGHT TO THE CITY?’ TALK AT THE BUILDING CENTRE

“Have we lost the art of what we do?” MIKE HARRIS, SENIOR TOWN PLANNER FOR STRIDE TREGLOWN ARCHITECTS, AT THE RTPI YOUNG PLANNERS’ CONFERENCE I M AG E S | G E T T Y / S H U T T E RSTO C K

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24/11/2014 10:38

CORRESPONDENCE

I Inbox

YOUR NEWS, VIEWS AND QUESTIONS F E E D B ACK

Ray Woolmore — I have just read the special issue of The Planner commemorating our 100 years of existence. As a chartered town planner for 50 years, and one who has, in his main career, specialised in countryside planning, I’m a little saddened to see how little countryside planning is mentioned. Even in Kevin Macdonald’s otherwise excellent review of ‘100 years in 100 documents’ several of the landmark acts relating to countryside and national planning are omitted, like the Countryside Act 1968. While John Dower’s seminal Report on National Parks (1945, not 1946) is included, the two reports leading to new attitudes to recreation and leisure in the countryside are also omitted i.e. Fourth Wave: The Challenge Of Leisure, by Michael Dower for the Civic Trust 1965, and the 1966 White Paper on Leisure In The Countryside published by HMSO for the short-lived Ministry of Land and Natural Resources. Maybe I’m just biased, but I wonder how many other planners would agree with my view that, today, countryside planning has a “Cinderella status”.

be voted into local planning regulations next year. It seems that no new construction will be permitted unless the dwellings are for primary residence only (whatever that term implies). I think this embargo is too late. Earlier in the same week as the St Ives announcement, François Hollande announced much heavier taxes on holiday homes and perhaps this is a better way of hitting the existing owners and thereby making ownership so expensive that it will free up the stock for the young local population? Philip Hurling, chartered town planner & chartered building engineer

Ray Woolmore MRTPI, retired

Philip Hurling — I was very pleased to read in The Times (November 7) that St Ives aims to turn the tide on city dwellers with a secondhome ban. The mechanism for this it is reported to be through the draft St Ives Neighbourhood Development Plan. This, it is claimed, could

Ron Tate — So Greater Manchester is to get an elected mayor. Congratulations! This is an early sign that the government’s promises for greater devolution following the referendum in Scotland will embrace city regions. But it begs the question on many lips about what happens to areas outside these designations and how such areas will fare in the future when faced with a coordinated competing critical mass of attraction for inward investment on their doorstep. The Manchester hinterland includes the signiﬁcant areas of deprivation to be found

in north-east Lancashire. These boroughs lie outside the boundaries of the 10 constituents. Will the mayor’s duty to cooperate be more than a simple consultation lip service or will the future promotion of the city as an economic driver and the strategy for infrastructure delivery embrace the needs of the sub region? Before we see a further roll-out of this approach – Leeds/Bradford, Merseyside and so on – we need some clariﬁcation on such issues to prevent the outcome from being an increased deprivation disparity with near neighbours. Ron Tate

O N THE WEB @ThePlanner_RTPI

The Planner Think Tank group on LinkedIn is now live – and we’re keen to invite you in. Of course, we’re always happy to receive your emails, or even physical letters (getting actual post is such an exciting novelty these days) – but our new Think Tank group is where we’ll be engaging with you ahead of, during and after publication of our news and feature content. We’ll also use the group to conduct surveys (sparingly), elicit a response to regularly posed topical questions, and to boost the debate generated by the team. If you’re already in the RTPI’s own group, you’ll probably see us asking the odd question there as well. With 2014 done and dusted (a very Merry Christmas, by the way -and do also have a happy new year) we're now planning for

the ﬁrst quarter of 2015. We encourage you to visit The Planner Think Tank, join in and make your point. See you online at http://tinyurl.com/PlannerThinkTank

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B E S T O F T H E B LO G S

O Opinion

Charlotte Taylor is an assistant planner at Turley and a member of the Young Planners South-West steering group

In the fa face of urbanisation and global movements m of people, finding solutions to overpopulation and demographic change has never been more important. The environmental resilience session at the Young Planners’ Conference this year explored just this question. The floods last winter were a harsh reminder of the challenge that the UK has as an island nation. Planning on the floodplain is inevitable. Pressure to develop on land at flood risk remains high and managing this balance is crucial to develop places resilient to environmental change. Alongside flood defences, it is essential that the growing and ageing UK population should live in cities that are also resilient to pressures on food resources, energy and space. Whether it is Lend Lease’s large-scale green regeneration scheme in Elephant & Castle or small-scale initiatives such as the Plotgate Farm Venture in Somerset, an innovative and flexible approach to unexpected and volatile change is fundamental. But for each innovative project there are hundreds of others that only just meet the minimum requirements for sustainability, or use building materials that do not provide the flexibility necessary to be adaptable and resilient. Is this maybe a reflection of the recent years of recession where the industry has been focused on

Chris Jesson is a town planner with Planning and Design Group in Nottingham and sits on the East Midlands Young Planners subcommittee

Planning for an ageing population

Environmental resilience: Time to embrace change keeping its head above water? Or is it because of years of under-delivery on housing which has now focused the system on delivering sites as quickly as possible at the expense of longevity of stock? Whatever the reason, population growth isn’t an issue that will go away – by 2035, 23 per cent of the population will be over 65. While the coalition has pushed for the delivery of housing through the NPPF, sites are being built that may not be resilient enough to last for the lifetime that they’re needed. Future Cities Catapult is just one hub that is inspiring this ‘thinking outside the box’: research into individual transport pods, data visualisation, modular housing and nanotechnology may provide the tools for true resilience in the face of environmental challenges. Innovation and ﬂexibility must be a normal part of any proposed scheme. Planning permissions need to be ﬂexible, buildings and spaces need to be adaptable and, most of all, the mentality of stakeholders within the planning system needs to be creative, positive and ready for change.

“”THE FLOODS LAST WINTER WERE A HARSH REMINDER OF THE CHALLENGE THAT THE UK HAS AS AN ISLAND NATION ”

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Charlotte helped to organise this year’s Young Planners Conference. Read more thoughts from committee members on The Planner website at bit.ly/1xZ6sZo

There is often talk in planning circles about addressing the housin shortage as a numbers housing issue. Demographic need can run in danger of being secondary to this dialogue, when it is intrinsically linked. We are all living longer, some leading more active and healthy lives beyond our 80s, yet the homes we live in aren’t suitable or diverse enough to meet our needs later in life. The scale of the problem is highlighted in the 2013 report Top Of The Ladder by Demos, which indicates that just 2 per cent of the UK’s housing stock can meet the needs of older people. The construct that a person over 55 is presumed to require the old-fashioned form of managed retirement housing is receding, and has to change at a faster pace to meet future needs. The government recently made several policy announcements that may indicate change. In August, planning minister Brandon Lewis said he was keen to see developers build more bungalows (The Telegraph). This could assist older people ‘downsizing’ to free homes up for young families. Bungalows were once thought of as footprint-intensive and less proﬁtable than conventional housing. Lifestyle changes and improved layouts mean this disparity has reduced, for example, not everyone over 55 requires a high-maintenance garden or several bedrooms.

Indications also point in favour of CIL changes, use classes separating retirement housing from conventional dwellings and care homes (Knight Frank 2013), or for local plans to require improved lifetime homes standards or proportions of homes for older people. All could be helpful collectively to address the issue. And not everyone will necessarily wish to live in car-borne and isolated developments. Increasingly, housing for older people with communal facilities is established within or on the edge of our city and town centres. This provides added value to sustainable neighbourhoods and the desired housing choice. Such development also recognises that more people are live alone renting in the current generation, which may inform long-term needs for older people. Firms including UKR are pushing forward in this market with its pilot village idea in the Midlands. And this month Barratt Developments said it would alter some of its house types for the over-55s, while retirement housing provider McCarthy & Stone will target the downsizer with its new Ortus Homes branded developments. All cases indicate things are improving and there is a market for it, but it may require a mix of policy and legislative incentives to genuinely plan for an ageing population.

“NOT EVERYONE OVER 55 REQUIRES A HIGH MAINTENANCE GARDEN OR SEVERAL BEDROOMS ”

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Have your say Would you like to see yourself in these pages? Get in touch by email – editorial@theplanner.co.uk Topical, inspirational, angry or amusing – we consider all relevant comment

Eleanor Gingell is a principal planner at Bidwells Milton Keynes,writing in a personal capacity

Iram Mohammed is major assets project oﬃcer for East Dunbartonshire Council and chair of the RTPI’s membership and ethics committee

How do we futureproof ourselves?

The empathetic planner

I’m work working through objections to a deve development proposal and I can p predict the public representations with unerring accuracy: parking, traffic, flood risk – and from the profession a standard comeback will inevitably be that the supporting evidence says it will all be fine. But have you ever stopped to think about why these issues come up time and again? Yes, there will always be a vocal minority who oppose all development. But there will be others who, if we take the time to understand the detail of their objection and suggest reasonable changes, can be appeased or even supportive of new development. Four years ago I was asked if I would like to join the parish council. I said ‘yes’ and I now balance being chair of the parish council with my work as a planning professional. And I have learnt something valuable – how the planning system works from the other side. Recently I found myself drafting a letter of objection to a development from the parish council. The list of ‘standard objections’ were all there: parking really was an issue in this particular location owing to the road layout, traffic – although low because of the residential area – is a real issue in an area where pedestrians, cyclists and cars all meet. Our parish falls within a flood zone and, owing to the Victorian drainage infrastructure,

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many properties have been flooded in recent years. And, for the first time in my professional life, sitting in the gallery, I felt disheartened to have local concerns dismissed by technical experts and simultaneously grateful for the elected members of the development control committee who, first deferred the application for further evidence, and then, when the application was finally determined, placed a number of conditions on the development. Afterwards the applicants said they wished they’d paid more attention to the issues raised initially as there were obvious solutions and it would have saved them time and money in the long term. When I asked why they dismissed them so readily, they said they thought they were just ‘the standard objections’. What balancing professional and parish life has taught me is not to rely wholly on technical evidence, but to see if there are real concerns among the usual representation, empathise with those whose lives will be altered through development and, through listening, understanding and being willing to negotiate, deliver a better outcome for communities and clients alike.

“I FOUND MYSELF DRAFTING AN OBJECTION TO A DEVELOPMENT FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL”

Eleanor was awarded the British Empire Medal earlier this year for services to neighbourhood and community planning

‘Resilient ‘Resilient’. ‘Future-proofing’. Two buzz wor words doing the rounds in town p planning in recent years. But the context in which we use them relates to how we futureproof our towns and cities, and what can improve their resilience. This can be anything from making changes to reflect social demographics to protecting our urban environments from climate change. But if we talk about cities being resilient and futureproofing them, can we do the same with planners? The RTPI’s Planning Horizons paper FutureProofing Society focuses on climate and demographic change, and suggests how planning can help society respond. The paper also touches on the need to deliver stronger spatial capabilities across practice and policy – meaning improving the skills, awareness and position of planners and other built environment practitioners, policymakers and decisionmakers. I’ve long supported the idea that planners should look to be ‘Jack of all trades and masters of everything’. This has never been more important than when dealing with the complicated challenges of making our towns and cities resilient. Planners are taught at university to look at the social, environmental and economic

challenges in our societies and cities. We’re taught of the need to strike a balance between these three linked agendas and to consider the impact of our decisions. So we could look to identify gaps in our knowledge and skills on these social, environmental and economic agendas. Our aim should be to create well-rounded planners who are ready to put into action policies and on-the-ground developments to future-proof our towns and cities. We have a good grasp of the social and environmental agendas. But we still lack a deeper understanding of how the economy aﬀects society and the environment. Having recently moved across from a private sector planning consultancy into public sector construction project management, I realise that understanding the economic drivers of development is crucial to managing conﬂicting agendas. How do we strike the balance that enables us to develop towns and cities with the resilience to withstand the social, environmental and economic challenges of the future? Next year I’m going to list an area of knowledge and a skill relating to society, economy and environment that I feel I need to improve to future-proof myself. Making cities more resilient will be our battle. We must improve our own knowledge and skills.

“BUT IF WE TALK ABOUT CITIES BEING RESILIENT AND FUTURE PROOFING THEM, CAN WE DO THE SAME WITH PLANNERS?”

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24/11/2014 10:11

P L A N N I N G I N S P I R AT I O N S

HEROES OF PLANNING JANE JACOBS? PETER HALL? YOUR HEAD OF DEPARTMENT? WE ASKED YOUNG PLANNERS FOR THEIR PLANNING HEROES. THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD US

Ja Jane JJacobs “The Death And Life Of Great American Cities was as signiﬁcant for cities as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was for the natural environment,” said TfL’s George Weeks. “Writing in an accessible style, backed up with empirical and commonsense observations and analysis, Jacobs has inspired generations of urban planners to consider the city, not as an agglomeration of buildings, but as the sum total of the millions of everyday human interactions that constitute urban life.” Adam Barnett of Islington Council agreed: “Before reading The Death And Life Of Great American Cities, I’d never even heard about town planning… No one writes so well, devoid of all jargon, and with such passion about cities and urban life.”

Who’s your planning hero? It might seem a simple enough question. But when we put it to young planners via LinkedIn and our website, we were delighted with the variety of responses. Our list comprises inspiring ﬁgures including writers, architects, social researchers, and even a prime minister. When it comes to developing an appreciation of the built environment and our relationship with it, inspiration can come from multiple sources. One name came up more than any other – Jane Jacobs, author of The Death And Life Of Great American Cities. Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl also received multiple mentions. Other respondents cited teachers, colleagues – even parents. No one, however, paid tribute to the father of modern planning, Ebenezer Howard. Does this tell us that our young planners lean more towards city planning and the complex challenges of urban environments? If so, we shouldn’t be surprised –they work in a world where more than half the global population lives in cities. By inviting young planners to consider the past, are we also catching a glimpse of the future?

Who’s who? The heroes of planning

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“NO ONE WRITES SO WELL AND WITH SUCH PASSION ABOUT CITIES AND URBAN LIFE”

Q Queen Elizabeth I E “I was once asked in a job interview which person I’d most like to be, and why,” wrote past Young Planner of the Year Nikola Miller. “My answer was Queen Elizabeth I because she was a strong female leader… I look to strong leaders that I can identify with as inspiration for my future career progression. Pam Ewen, TAYPlan strategic development plan manager, and RTPI Scotland senior-vice convenor is one... a true leader and inspiration not only for women, but for all planners.”

Ja Jan G Gehl

{

The Danish architect and urban designer was praised by Iram Mohammed of East Dunbartonshire Council for “promoting the ‘people ﬁrst’ approach to planning” by re-orientating city design towards walking and cycling.

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George Orwell G Zoe Green, current Young Planner of the Year, drew inspiration from the life and work of one of the 20th century’s seminal political commentators. “George Orwell’s works, from the dystopian 1984 to his memoir as a penniless writer in Down And Out In Paris And London, depict the way society is and the way it could be. They are both stark reminders of how we should be planning for a future that caters for all.”

H Henri Lefebvre L

Sir Peter Hall Si “I got to know Peter shortly after moving to London in 2008 and was consistently struck by his almost childlike enthusiasm for planning,” said Jonathan Manns of Colliers. “It’s something incredibly rare and which undoubtedly helped him remain immediately engaging and intelligible to whoever he met, irrespective of their background or experience.”

Jennifer Angus of GVA admires the French philosopher and sociologist for giving expression to “what I consider to be a foundational perspective on planning – that it should be, at its heart, an exercise aimed at, and informed by, the ‘right to the city’. If we keep this collective right in mind in our professional lives, recognise it not just as the right to access the city but also to be involved in shaping it, then we can be conﬁdent that we are moving forward in the right direction.” Jennifer also mentioned Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen for his thoughts on ‘development as freedom’.

C Clement Attlee A “I WAS CONSISTENTLY STRUCK BY HIS ALMOST CHILDLIKE ENTHUSIASM FOR PLANNING”

W Willam H Whyte The American urbanist, journalist and organisational analyst studied human behaviour in urban settings. Urban designer Maysa Phares cited Whyte for his “contribution to our understanding of how pedestrians use public spaces and the design implications of these observations”.

“Clement Atlee, for being the politician that helped see through the New Towns Act (1946) and the Town and Country Planning Act (1947),” wrote Eleanor Gingell of Bidwells. “And for having the vision, desire and leadership to bring about real change to deliver the housing we needed as a country.”

{ Others mentioned included architect and cartoonist Louis Hellman, architect and urban designer Joe Holyoak, founder of Open Cities Victoria Thornton, Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer and planner Sir Patrick Geddes, and Gareth Capner, “grandfather of private sector planning”. But what of those with whom our young planners have a direct relationship? Here’s a selection.

From parents to teachers Iram Mohammed commended Professor Greg Lloyd of the University of Dundee for creating an “inspiring learning environment”. And GVA’s Tristan Dewhurst cited Dr Michael Short of UWE for articulating to him the “vision and potential of planning”. Wayne Reynolds of Atriarc gave a nod to Professor John Punter of Cardiﬀ University, who helped him “take the leap into the unknown when I was looking at setting up Atriarc Planning”. Wayne also credited RTPI president Cath Ranson as a supportive mentor. Cath’s own planning heroes were the (in)famous ‘Grotton Three”’ of Steve Ankers, David Kaiserman and our own Chris Shepley. Colleagues included David Lander, described by Craige Burden of Boyers as “one of the greatest planning minds I have seen give evidence”, and Frances Wheat, who heads development control at Camden Council. “An inspiration to any female seeking to climb the ladder,” said Zenab Haji-Ismail. Family members had inspired some young planners. Henry Collins of Boyer said his father David Collins, at 71, “works as hard as ever and still loves it”. RTPI London senior vice-chair Charlotte Morphet has two planning parents – mother Janice Morphet, “a true planning practitioner and academic” who teaches at the Bartlett, and dad Robin Morphet, a researcher at UCL. “I’m not sure many people understand transport planning along with traditional town planning like he does,” she said. n Join the discussion There were others, too, of course – more than we can feature here. But we’d love to keep debating this and we’ve started a discussion thread in The Planner Think Tank on LinkedIn: http://tinyurl.com/PlannerThinkTank

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PLANNING CHANGE

ctober’s Young Planners’ Conference looked at what can be done to improve planning systems and processes in the UK (and more speciﬁcally, England). The session featured presentations by the TCPA’s head of policy Hugh Ellis, and Ralph Ward, formerly a regeneration adviser to the Olympics and Thames Gateway. Ellis challenged today’s young planners to take up the mantle from his generation. Planning, he said, was at a nadir. But he was optimistic that as a nation we would shortly rediscover its purpose and necessity. Our emerging young planners would then be in the vanguard of a new golden age of planning, he predicted. But, we ask, what would this generation do to improve the discipline they are growing into? How would young planners change planning?

HOW WOULD YOU CHANGE PLANNING FOR THE BETTER? FROM DEPOLITICISING PLANNING TO IMPROVING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG PLANNERS IN LOCAL AUTHORITIES, HERE’S WHAT YOUNG PLANNERS HAD TO SAY

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THE PLANNERS VERONICA BARBARO

Let’s have a revolution Veronica Barbaro is a senior planner at GVA in Bristol and helped to organise this year’s Young Planners’ Conference The adequacy of today’s planning system in being able to address housing, infrastructure and environmental challenges was an underlying theme to all sessions at this year’s Young Planners’ Conference. David Cowans from Places for People struck a particular chord with me. He asked why it is that many planners look at European cities such as Amsterdam to see how housing shortages and residential development are addressed elsewhere, and yet do not adapt or replicate any lessons learned in this country. The initiative to seek out examples of good practice is commendable, but we don’t seem to be very good at putting it into practice. A key reason for this is because it is no simple task and would perhaps require a remodelling of our entire planning system. However, if it is acceptable to practically revolutionise the planning system with every term of Parliament, then surely revolutionising to mirror other models which we know work well should not be beyond our reach. Planners, on the whole, are an adaptable bunch. There seems to be a divide between those who think that the planning system could be improved, but still provides a sound foundation to adequately address current and future challenges, and those who think that the planning system is fundamentally broken and needs to undergo serious changes. I think that accepting the current system is like staying in an unhappy relationship because other options are scary and difficult. Crucially, I think that if our planning system is going to stand up to the challenges ahead, it needs to be much more robust. And planning needs to be afforded enough importance to transcend political terms – post-revolution, that is. If the planning system could be dissociated from mainstream politics, I think we could achieve so much more. Finally, the system needs to be more flexible if it is going to form the basis for more resilient places. The simplicity and rigidity of the use class system, for instance, is limiting – and at this stage land allocations

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are not updated frequently enough to reﬂect changes in the economic market. It is perhaps time for us to realise that we need systems that are as dynamic and reﬂexive as the communities and places we want to plan for, or else relegate ourselves to the pejorative stereotypes that plague the profession.

KATRINE DEAN

Give youth its head Katrine Dean is a public sector planner working in development control for a London borough Local authority planners are constantly under scrutiny from their private sector counterparts for inefficient working practices. The system is often thought of as one wrapped up in the cogs of bureaucracy, beyond the control of the individual. But there is opportunity to challenge and improve ways of working – especially if we approach it with a vision of what planning is and what the system is trying to achieve. In my view, local authorities must streamline service delivery by operating in a more business-like manner and make wise choices, like investing in their staff. I would consider all staff as assets and nurture them from graduate level through a structured career path. I’d look to harvest ideas for improving inefficient processes and maintaining this improvement from these young and creative individuals. I wouldn’t expect junior members of staff within councils to deal solely with minor developments, but give them opportunities to develop knowledge and skills through major projects. I’d invite them to contribute to policy formulation and regeneration projects, which would increase job satisfaction and strengthen their desire to remain in their workplace This, in turn, would reduce staff turnover and save resources, which are allocated to constantly training new staff. The result, I think, would be a more fluid local authority planning department. Planning should ultimately be about

“ACCEPTING THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS LIKE STAYING IN AN UNHAPPY RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE OTHER OPTIONS ARE SCARY AND DIFFICULT”

driving for the best possible scheme. To achieve this we need more understanding between private and public sector planners. So I would also look to create partnerships and secondments between consultancies and local authorities so that planners could share knowledge, experience and ideas. This would again contribute to a flexible system and simplified but enhanced processes, which would improve customer and staff experience of this multi-faceted profession.

TRISTAN DEWHURST

Devolve, decentralise Tristan Dewhurst is a graduate planner at GVA in Bristol I absolutely believe that planners need to embrace and champion devolution and decentralisation. The unanticipated surge in public interest in this subject following the Scottish referendum has catalysed a real debate about democracy and governance in the UK. Planners have a clear role in shaping this evolving debate. Decentralisation presents the best opportunity to achieve the things that our planning profession sorely needs: an adrenaline shot to the heart of public engagement and direct democracy; the chance for collaborative spatial and regional planning; and (critically) the means and resources with which to implement visions for better communities and places. It has the potential to be more sincerely empowering than the cynically conceived ‘localism agenda’ and to have better popular understanding and support than the advent of spatial planning 10 years ago.

IRAM MOHAMMED

More delegated powers Iram Mohammed is major assets project oﬃcer for East Dunbartonshire Council and chair of the RTPI’s membership and ethics committee Removing the risk of local political agendas from the development management process and increasing delegated powers would be a change for

the better, as I believe planners are the best people to make objective decisions about developments in their area.

WAYNE REYNOLDS

Stability in Wales Wayne Reynolds is founder and director of Atriarc Planning and Construction and junior vice-chair of RTPI Cymru I would like to see some stability come back into the planning system. With the Welsh council merger programme up in the air, I think there is huge uncertainty in the profession as to how the merger programme will impact on the planning system in Wales, both in terms of employment and the planning system in general. The Wales Planning Bill can provide the framework for regional working – however, I am not convinced that future signiﬁcant changes are around the corner. The next two to ﬁve years will be very interesting indeed!

ZOE GREEN

Integration, integration, integration Zoe Green is a senior planning consultant with Atkins in London and the RTPI’s Young Planner of the Year We are entering the era of the city; by 2050 two-thirds of the global population will be living in cities. Our cities across the world are facing increasingly similar risks from ﬂood risk to energy shortages and ecosystem damage. A multidisciplinary approach is essential to address the evolving structural and strategic threats. Planners must use their professional capabilities to assess the risks facing cities in a more integrated way and develop solutions that will help cities adapt in the face of an uncertain future.

n Join the discussion We’d love to know how you would change planning (whether you’re a young planner or not). Join the discussion in The Planner Think Tank on http://tinyurl.com/PlannerThinkTank

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URBAN DESIGN

FREEDOM OF THE CITY? Are we designing young people out of our cities? We asked two young planners and listened to a talk by a teenage skater who successfully campaigned to save the Southbank skate park in London

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I M AG E | COR B I S

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GEORGE WEEKS

eorge Weeks is an urban designer at Transport for London and RTPI London communications representLondo ative “I am totally convinced that most grown-ups have completely forgotten what it is like to be a child between the ages of five and 10. I can remember exactly what it was like. I am certain I can” – Roald Dahl, Boy – Tales Of Childhood Had Roald Dahl devoted himself to urban planning, the literary world would have been deprived of the inimitable wit contained within such volumes as Revolting Rhymes. But it is interesting to think how different our towns and cities might be we were able to plan them from a child’s point of view. This point is more than hypothetical; it is important. David Sucher wrote in City Comforts in 2003 that: “Children are like the canaries in a coal mine; an indicator species of urban health… where parents won’t raise children, we might all hesitate to live.” From a planning perspective, this has a moral implication; specifically that it is unfair for grown-up planners to allow the creation of urban environments that are inhospitable to children, who have little or no say with regard to where they live.

Freedom, choice and autonomy High-quality public space is only any use to young people if they are able to access it, preferably independently. The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report interviewed 30,000 children to study the factors inﬂuencing childhood wellbeing. Three of these – choice, freedom and autonomy – are described as fundamentally important for children’s

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URBAN DESIGN “AR RE WE CR REATIN NG THE PLACE THAT I WANT TO LIVVE? WHERE I WANTT MY KIDS TO LIVE?” AND THAT’S THEE ACID TEST,, THE YARDSTICK BY WHICH OUR INFFRASTRUCTURE DEECISIONS SHOULD BE MADE” OLYMPIC MEDALLIST CHRIS BOARDMAN, NOVEMBER 2014 / CITED BY GEORGE WEEKS

quality of life. With regard to urban planning, this includes the ability for children to access the city independently, without default recourse to parental chauﬀeuring. In Britain we are failing to achieve this. A fundamental reason is the continued development of a physical environment that regards anyone not in a private motor vehicle as a second-class citizen. While car-centricism is often seen as a charming relic of 1980s red-braces motormania, two-thirds of retail space seeking planning permission in 2013 was for out-of-town locations. Repeat this across the built environment and you have an environment that increasingly disenfranchises a substantial proportion of its population. Mayer Hillman’s One False Move in 1990 showed how the improvement in UK road accident rates since the 1920s has largely been at the expense of independent mobility. Children’s freedom to

travel independently fell sharply from the 1970s to the 1990s and has ﬂatlined since. We have achieved “safe” conditions by designing an environment that deprives young people of their independence and contributes to a one-third obesity rate among 11-year-olds.

Going Dutch One country that has managed to reduce accident rates and increase children’s independent mobility is The Netherlands. Car-centric planning in Dutch cities was abruptly halted by the 1973 energy crisis and the ‘Stop de Kindermoord’ (Stop the Child Murder) campaign. While British parents bundled their children into cars to “keep them away from the traﬃc”, the Dutch got on with designing attractive and safe streets and cycleways, reducing child road deaths by 98 per cent and creating a comprehensive network of cycling

The skating city

LOUIS WOODHEAD

LOUIS WOODHEAD IS A SKATEBOARDER AND ACTIVIST FROM THE LONG LIVE SOUTHBANK CAMPAIGN. THIS IS AN ABRIDGEMENT OF LOUIS’S SPEECH FROM THE ‘WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO THE CITY?’ DEBATE ORGANISED BY YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR ZOE GREEN

“I spend my weekends roaming London. As you gain more technical ability, [skating] becomes a more thoughtful way of looking at the city. When a mate got a camera, we became far more conscious and aesthetic. We skated more at night, looking for spaces with a real atmosphere. By far the best place to skate is on Southbank, the undercroft under Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was designed as a free public space in the hope that someone would come along to provide a creative use for it. It’s become Britain’s most famous skating space. The self-expression I ﬁnd

routes that could be used by anyone. The Netherlands has as much motorway mileage as the UK; but it exists alongside the foot and cycle network. The results speak for themselves. On average, Dutch children travel independently to school (by foot or bicycle) from eight-and-a-half. By secondary school age, more than 90 per cent go to school by bicycle. Dutch teenagers have complete independence; they are free to visit their friends, go shopping or simply cycle anywhere. Such freedom pays dividends. Research by UNICEF has found Dutch children to be the happiest in the developed world. Similar patterns exist in Sweden, Denmark and Finland; all have good walking and cycling infrastructure and all top UNICEF’s ratings. This has not happened by accident – it is the result of well-thought out policies, funded consistently, and backed up by national design standards. Such an environment also provides equality of opportunity. A city built around travel by foot and bicycle has relatively low barriers to accessibility; a pair of shoes is inexpensive and easily stored. The same

most exciting cannot be taken out of its physical space. In Tottenham a group of BMXers have taken over these old canal channels. They’ve invested a lot of time and money to create a DIY skateboard park. To me such things are beautiful because they come about organically. However, such forms of self-expression are increasingly endangered, especially in Central London. Some privately owned and managed places may be publicly accessible, but they are not free for public self-expression. They have heavy-handed security and you’d be lucky to get more than a minute or two to skate in most of these spaces. It seems that if your

views are too far from the mainstream you begin to lose rights [to the city]. The most obvious device preventing free artistic expression for me as a skater is ‘skateblockers’. Things like this are forcing views on people who have a stake in the city centre but can’t aﬀord to live there. Where the city is becoming characterless it’s often because the authorities insist on a huge number of rules to govern this space. I spend far too many days now skating around the city ﬁnding places that I used to skate having blocks on them and parks being closed by security. The more time I spend trying to skate the city, the

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applies to a bicycle, which permits a hugely extended autonomous range and is not, in the scheme of things, expensive. Compared with the costs of parental chauffeuring in Britain – estimated at £20 billion a year – it is a bargain. Active travel also brings health benefits; The Netherlands has the West’s WAYNE REYNOLDS lowest rate of childhood WAYNE REYNOLDS obesity. IS FOUNDER AND By designing an environDIRECTOR OF ATRIARC ment where travel by bicycle PLANNING AND is universally acceptable to CONSTRUCTION AND all children, The Netherlands JUNIOR VICE CHAIR is accessible to all ages. The OF RTPI CYMRU classic Dutch utility bike is widely known as the omafiets (granny-bike) with good reason. Urban environments that work well for children can also work well for old people. Children crave the freedom to exist on their own terms, to be respected and to be independently mobile. By incorporating these needs into the design of their physical environments, The Netherlands has given its children the gift of freedom. Not only is this a source of dignity for all its young citizens, the benefits for physical and mental wellbeing are indisputable. Dutch urban planners have worked within their country’s constraints to produce the world’s

more Southbank seems like a haven of freedom. I’ve begun to see it almost as a model for public space. When you skate there you feel free, which for me is an ideal we should look to in all public spaces.”

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Skateboarding will continue at the Undercroft for the long term after an 18-month legal battle to stop a retail redevelopment

Let’s build city housing for families In design terms, age is one part of a wider set of variables. Social exclusion or marginalisation is a more appropriate concept, taking into account lifestyle and socio-economic indicators. The demand for housing is an interesting aspect of design in the city. Having lived in high-density housing developments in Cardiff and from reviewing various projects across the UK and Europe, I have often thought that there is a conflict between land economics, high-density housing, and the types of units offered. This directly impacts upon the local demographic. Generally speaking, in recent years the dominance of one and two-bedroom apartments (typically 25-75 sq m) has seen a gentrification of parts of London and Cardiff focused towards the ‘young’ professional. The housing demands in both cities ensure that this housing type is very popular. However, such apartments are not wholly conducive to family life. Internal space is typically at a premium and the quality of outdoor space is often limited. If we look to EU highdensity housing schemes, greater emphasis is often placed on how housing can evolve as living requirements change. I also prefer the EU way of considering apartments in terms of total square meters, rather than

the number of rooms. A friend of mine has recently purchased a large 115 sq m ﬂat in The Netherlands with car parking and secure outdoor storage space. Its internal layout has been designed for easy conversion from two to three bedrooms through the addition of a simple partition wall. With a little extra thought, new developments can be designed to evolve as the requirements of the homeowner change. It would be interesting to see how this would impact on the community as a whole, if residents became long-term residents rather than just seeing parts of the city as an interim place to live. Good planning and urban design can enhance a development or create a successful outdoor space. Poor management practices can be as exclusionary as design. In my experience, the management of space is often overlooked. However, it is a key factor in how a city will evolve and how members of a community perceive a space or interact with one another. Broadband technology, cloud services and preference for home working will change the desirability of housing types within the city and surrounds. Indeed, the rise of homeworking may also see an increasing preference for larger residential units (to cater for more ﬂexible live-work environments), which will likely have a huge impact on how we view the homes of the future.

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MEANWHILE USES

CASE ST UDY

JENNIFER ANGUS WON AN RTPI AWARD FOR HER MSC DISSERTATION ON THE TEMPORARY USES OF UNUSED SPACE IN TOWNS AND CITIES THIS YEAR. HERE, SHE OFFERS A PERSONAL VIEW ON HOW ‘MEANWHILE USE’ CAN UNLOCK THE VALUE OF SPACE

IN THE About the writer Jennifer Angus worked in international and community development before taking an MSc in Urban Planning at the University of the West of England. In 2014, she received the RTPI’S Student Award for Excellence in Spatial Planning Research for her dissertation investigating the role of planning in facilitating meanwhile uses, with a particular focus on the work of Bristol City Council. Jennifer is now a graduate planner at GVA in Bristol.

Contained revival

The Australian government is backing ‘Renew Australia’ – a nationwide meanwhile use programme

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Set up in 2011 as a ‘pop-up project’ aimed at drawing life back into the heart of Christchurch following the earthquakes that ravaged the city, the Re:Start Mall was created over a mere eight-weeks, largely from shipping containers. Expanding from an initial 27 businesses to more than 50, the project has proved incredibly popular with residents and tourists. It has now been moved as new permanent building has started to take place. However, Re:Start emphasises how eﬀective temporary solutions can be in creating new places and stimulating activity. n www.restart.org.nz

MEANT

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uch is our collective familiarity – and perhaps fatigue – with ‘pop-up’ or ‘meanwhile’ uses, to write about them in an issue dedicated to aspirational thinking on planning, risks appearing completely out of tune with the zeitgeist. In the face of the housing ‘crisis’, climate change and an ageing and growing population, as well as the relentless drive for economic growth, many would consider these uses entirely trivial, worthy only of a very minor footnote in the Great Encyclopaedia of Solutions to the Challenges facing Mankind. This is hardly surprising when most discussions around this topic start and end with pop-up shops – useful and important as these are. This need not be the case. Our discussions should be as wide-ranging as the fascinating array of temporary uses that are to be found. From the innovative use of redundant, inner city industrial land for urban agriculture as it awaits long-term redevelopment in Bristol to the dazzling success of Christchurch’s temporary mall in bringing life back to an earthquake ravaged city, meanwhile uses truly matter.

Not just temporary solutions

“MEANWHILE USE REPRESENTS AN APPROACH THAT IS PROFICIENT IN ACHIEVING SOME OF THE MORE ASPIRATIONAL AND INTANGIBLE GOALS WHICH PLANNING SETS OUT TO ACHIEVE BUT IS OFTEN ILL EQUIPPED TO DELIVER”

In fact, meanwhile use has huge relevance to a whole range of urban conundrums, including: Creating new places – Meanwhile use is adept at generating interest and a sense of place in new areas by allowing the rapid trialling of ideas and activities to see what works. While this experimentation can stem short-term curiosity – for instance, encouraging someone to linger for longer in an area than they might have – it also helps promote interaction and the development of the social and community bonds that help grow and sustain new places as they mature. Bottom-up urban renewal – Meanwhile uses are generally time-limited in nature so there are fewer start-up costs tion as they are natural generators of diversity, vital if existing associated with their development. This provides a platform places are to renew themselves – a point not lost on the Australfor small-scale, local individuals and organisations to ‘have ian government, which has chosen to back ‘Renew Australia’ a a go’ at occupying seemingly redundant space – whether in nationwide meanwhile use programme. Opening spaces for dialogue and action – Meanwhile uses, the form of existing buildings or open land. In doing so, skills with their provisional nature, beg critical questions about space: and capacities can be strengthened, and alternative uses and Who owns it? Who gets to use it, on what terms and for what activities given the platform they need to become self-suspurposes? Who doesn’t get to use it? And who gets to decide? In taining. Meanwhile uses are also guardians against stagnaan increasingly privatised world, meanwhile uses keep our ‘right to the city,’ that is our right to access and participate in the shaping of the city, on the political agenda. ‘This Made City’, a webbased archive of Bristol meanwhile uses, explores these themes and shows some of the diverse groups that have been enabled to enact their right to the city through meanwhile use. These applications won’t appeal to everyone but they do demonstrate that meanwhile use cuts across a whole host of pressing issues facing our towns and cities. You don’t need to take my word for it – on the need to encourage diversity and mixes of uses in our cities, for instance, Jane Jacobs was emphatic, stating in the Death And Life Of Great American Cities:

TIME…

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MEANWHILE USES

“The ﬁrst and by far the most important question about planning cities is this – how can cities generate enough mixture among uses – enough diversity – throughout their entire territories to sustain their own civilisation?”

From novelty to necessity

“BOTTOMUP URBAN RENEWAL – MEANWHILE USES ARE GENERALLY TIME LIMITED IN NATURE SO THERE ARE FEWER STARTUP COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THEIR DEVELOPMENT”

It is precisely because of their relevance to the urban context that I believe their status as a tool and approach within planning needs to be elevated from ‘novelty’ to ‘necessity.’ Furthermore, meanwhile use represents an approach that is proficient in achieving some of the more aspirational and intangible goals which planning sets out to achieve but is often ill equipped to deliver – the building of social capital and the desire for greater spatial justice, for instance. During my own research on attitudes and approaches to meanwhile uses among local authorities, it seemed that part of the barrier to their acceptance as a planning method was the perception that they fall outside the statutory remit of planning. This viewpoint is to some extent understandable – particularly with new permitted development rights making it easier for temporary changes of use to take place, and existing permitted development rights allowing other temporary uses like street markets to take place without recourse to planning. Nonetheless, a failure to recognise and engage with the potential of meanwhile uses suggests a situation where planners are too constrained by rules, regulations and statutory responsibilities to think and respond creatively to new ideas about how to plan for the realities of urban life. In doing so, they may just be ignoring – to quote Jane Jacobs again – “the kind of the problem a city is”, when we look at it afresh without the armour and established practices that come with professional boundaries. That said, my research also highlighted examples of innovative practice in relation to planning and meanwhile uses, while there is some recognition of the benefits of these uses among the private sector. But far more can be done to harness their true potential. A good place to start would be for planners to shed any conceptions that meanwhile uses are ‘nice to haves’ or ‘none of their business’ and start seeing these uses instead as part of a sophisticated, multi-layered approach to our towns and cities – an approach which recognises that the tactical and the strategic are two sides of the same coin. This requires strategic commitment from local authorities and more responsibility from the private sector in allowing these uses to take place, wherever possible. And maybe a leap of faith too. Let’s redraw the lines and make planning fit for purpose.

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Salad by The Severn Enabled by a local development order, The Severn Project, a successful community interest company, has set up several temporary polytunnels in which to cultivate salad and herbs on the site identified for the new Bristol arena. The company trains groups who face difficulties in getting into work, including those with offending backgrounds and drug and alcohol issues. The Severn Project demonstrates the impact that the opportunity to use space can have in cultivating successful new businesses with social impact – as well as the value that can be created while sites await long-term redevelopment. n www.thesevernproject.org

Cultivating salad and herbs on the site identiﬁed for the new Bristol arena

A decade of meanwhile Stemming from an exhibition of the same name held in a meanwhile use space on the cusp of closing, This Made City documents a period of proliﬁc meanwhile use activity in Bristol between 2005 and 2014. Some of the 25 projects proﬁled are still in operation. In the words of the creators, “the archive is an attempt to capture something before it disappeared – before the community spaces, the artist collectives and the ideas that held these places together got broken up entirely and were forgotten”. The archive brings to life the political and social power of meanwhile use while highlighting the variety of buildings that have housed meanwhile uses, including a police station and a church. n www.thismadecity.com I M AG E S | JAC K S ON D ROW L E Y

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TALKING ABOUT MY GENERATION 30

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YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR

From playing city-building video games Zoe Green went on to masterplanning real projects for private and public sector clients internationally. Now she’s helping to inspire young people to take on the planning challenges ahead. David Blackman speaks to the RTPI Young Planner of the Year

P H O T O G R A P H Y | A K I N FA L O P E

ot many people get the chance to be involved in planning a whole country before the age of 25. But Zoe Green, who was voted Young Planner of the Year at the RTPI Awards earlier this year, found herself leading planning consultancy Atkins’ work on Bahrain’s national development strategy. And her work on the Bahrain national plan may serve as an attractive advert for the profession to others. The Gulf may not appear to be the most hospitable environment for a young woman. But Green insists that “there were no gender issues.” The Ministry of Urban Planning, where she spent the bulk of her time, contained a balanced mix of men and women. She had more of a problem with the climate. “The longest stint was two to three months. Unfortunately it was during Ramadan and the hottest part of the year, which was quite challenging.” Her chief professional test, meanwhile, was the “tightly constrained’” nature of the Gulf State,

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YOUNG PLANNER OF THE YEAR

“You look at the whole country and it’s about 765 sq km. About two-thirds of that is oil fields and army land so you can’t develop on any of that area – that leaves a third that is “MANAGING quite developed.” THE GROWING Some patches of the kingdom are less PAINS OF A CITY developed than others, though – the septic WHICH IS DUE tanks found attached to many dwellings point TO EXCEED ITS to the kingdom’s infrastructure shortcomings. PREVIOUS PEAK “The way development came forward POPULATION could be quite ad hoc and wasn’t controlled NEXT YEAR and monitored,” she says. WILL REQUIRE Better transport infrastructure is key to MORE RADICAL unlocking higher density development in SOLUTIONS” what remains a car-dominated land. The plan’s key recommendations included more densification of development around transport nodes, providing greater protection for Bahrain’s environment and making better use of the country’s coastline to boost its tourism. “The government have found it a very useful instrument for developing the country,” she says. Bahrain isn’t the only place overseas in which Green has worked. Recently she has been carrying out an employment land review for a Swedish local authority, the first such exercise to be carried out in the country. “The chief planner had worked in the UK and was excited to introduce some of the planning principles that we have in the UK to Sweden,” she says, adding that he had been impressed with the UK’s evidence-based approach to spatial planning decisions. As Green observes, it is rare for Scandinavian planners to look to the UK for best practice rather than vice-versa.

oﬀ an interest in city building. But Green, who still works for Atkins as a senior planning consultant, didn’t initially dream of being a planner. She read politics as an undergraduate. “I never had aspirations as a young child to become a planner, it was something I found out about later on,” she says. The turning point, though, seems to have been the time she spent as a British Council exchange student in China. Travelling around the rapidly urbanising country galvanised an interest in the built environment. “I was really struck by the pace of change and the tall buildings going up,” she says. Explaining her decision to switch from politics to planning at post-graduate level, Green says planning felt like a more tangible way to make a diﬀerence than pushing paper around. “What inspired me was that you are helping to shape the built environment,” she says.

Galvanising young minds The Young Planner of the Year award not only recognises Green’s work at Atkins but also her extra-curricular contribution to the industry. As well as chairing the European Council of Spatial Planners’ UK working group, she frequently blogs on the Global Urbanist website. She contributed to the commemorative book Kaleidoscope City for the RTPI’s 100th anniversary, alongside luminaries like the late Sir Peter

Changing perceptions Zoe was already used to working on high-profile projects before her adventures in Bahrain, having cut her teeth as a trainee planner on the environmental impact assessments for the Olympic Park project. And it was an experience that demonstrated to her the power of planning. ”The whole area has completely changed and will continue to change in the future,” says Green. Green says she is keen to dispel the myths about her generation of planners. Sporting a pair of fashionable Diane Keaton-style spectacles, she cuts a very different figure from the comic archetypal jobsworth town planner Noel (played by actor/writer Tom Basden) in the BBC TV series The Wrong Mans. Playing the computer game SimCity as a teenager sparked 32

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Talk of the town The annual London World Town Planning Day debate was Zoe Green’s brainchild. She came up with the idea of the event, which has since become a regular ﬁxture in the London planning events calendar as a way of giving the capital’s large and diverse population of international planners an opportunity to gather together. This year’s event, chaired by Green at the Building Centre in Central London, focused on the tough issues surrounding the privatisation of public spaces. As well as Victoria Thornton, who founded the annual Open House event, the platform also featured the skateboarders who successfully fought oﬀ the Southbank Centre’s plans to redevelop the undercroft they had turned into a much-loved skate park. “I found it very inspiring to hear from someone like you and me on the ground and how they experience their environment, not in that technocratic way that we can slip into as a profession and reconnect with what it means for people on the ground and communities.” There is a lot of jargon in the profession but we are trying to break it down a bit more. Being straightforward is the best way to be.”

Hall, and was also a centenary ambassador. “I’M VERY As a centenary ambassador, Green has EXCITED TO BE been touring schools to help raise the profile WORKING IN of town planning with young people. PLANNING AT THE Enthusing the next generation is a muchMOMENT WITH needed task, she says. ”There‘s a push to get THESE BIGGER young planners into the profession, tuition CHALLENGES ON fees have gone up and there’s a lot of presTHE HORIZON” sure to go into higher-end jobs like the law.” Closer to home, she has also carried out a large number of employment land reviews for local authorities across London and the South-East. She worries about the loss of designated employment sites for housing development, particularly following the government’s move to relax change of use rules on offices and warehouses. It is important that local authorities get the right balance between housing and economic development, she feels. “Lots of sites are very heavily occupied, particularly from small businesses. Just because it looks like a warehouse and is unattractive doesn’t mean that it is not a lively functioning economy.“ Employment sites “definitely need to be protected, particularly where there is a proven demand,” she adds. “With permitted development rights there’s a danger that we will be unbalancing the economy by losing valuable employment land.” And the homes that will be built on such sites are unlikely to meet London’s most pressing housing needs, she adds. “Given (the way) London prices are going up, the housing is not going to be for those at the affordable end of the spectrum, certainly not first time buyers,” she says. Managing the growing pains of a city, which she notes is due to exceed its previous peak population next year, will require more radical solutions, she suggests. “Obviously there is some brown field land particularly in east London

that could be unlocked for development but that’s not going to meet all of the need, there is pressure to look further and revisit the green belt,” she says. It’s this kind of big picture challenge that clearly enthuses Green, though. “I’m very excited to be working in planning at the moment with these bigger challenges on the horizon,” she says. The key to better planning, she suggests is promoting dialogue and knowledge sharing through forums like the European Council. “When you start to share ideas you come up with much better solutions.” An example of this kind of dialogue is the recent World Town Planning Day debate in London (see box), which she has organised and chaired in recent years. One thing looks certain though: as long as the debate goes, you can expect Green to be in the thick of it. D EC E MB ER 2 0 14 / THE PLA NNER

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INSIGHT

DiF { D

DECISIONS IN FOCUS

Decisions in Focus is where we put the spotlight on some of the more signiﬁcant planning appeals and court cases of the last month – alongside your comments. If you’d like to contribute your insights and analyses to future issues of The Planner, email DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk Area D in two, creating both a functional and physical separation within Area D between the residential curtilage and the storage of vehicles; thereby creating two new planning units. The creation of a new planning unit (or new chapter in the planning history) extinguished the beneﬁt of the planning permission for Area D. (4 ANALYSIS

[1] SASKIA MOLEKAMP

MIXEDUSE DEVELOPMENT

Planning permission extinguished by creation of new planning unit (1 SUMMARY In a recent appeal decision, the appellant’s land had permission for the mixed use of storage of non-scrap vehicles and domestic curtilage. However, the majority of the area was actually used as ancillary to activities on adjoining land. As a result, a new planning unit had been created and the beneﬁt of the planning

permission was lost. (2 CASE DETAILS The property consisted of Areas A, B, C and D. Area D had permission for the mixed use of (a) the storage of vehicles and (b) domestic curtilage. An enforcement notice was served against Areas A, B, C and part of D, alleging an unauthorised change of use. An inspector upheld the enforcement notice, ﬁnding that the beneﬁt of the planning permission for Area D had been lost by the creation of two planning units: the residential curtilage was one planning unit and the area being used for the storage of vehicles formed a larger,

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separate planning unit with Areas A, B and C. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED In upholding the inspector’s decision, Mr Justice Wyn Williams found that Area D had been subdivided into two new planning units. The vehicle storage on part of Area D had become ancillary to the main purpose of a new larger planning unit (with Areas A, B and C), which was the storage, repair and salvaging of vehicle parts for sale; just a small part of Area D remained as domestic curtilage. This constituted a material change of use from the permitted mixed use of Area D. There was also a fence subdividing

This case serves as a useful reminder that the beneﬁt of a planning permission can be lost in certain circumstances. Such circumstances include the commencement of a new chapter in the planning history of the relevant land, which can happen when a new planning unit is created. In this case, the new planning unit was established by virtue of a clear functional link between some of the land beneﬁting from a planning consent and adjoining land. It is worth remembering that s 57(4) of the TCPA 1990 allows land that is subject to an enforcement notice to be used for its last lawful use without further planning permission. However, s.57(4) could not enable the planning permission for Area D to be relied upon because

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A proposal for accommodation for more than 200 students in Kingston, Surrey, has been allowed on appeal

the ‘land’ that was the subject of the enforcement notice was Areas A, C and D, rather than just Area D. SASKIA MOLEKAMP Mills & Reeve LLP

Case reference: Stone v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2014 () EWHC 1456

MIXEDUSE DEVELOPMENT

Kingston mixeduse scheme gets go ahead (1 SUMMARY The demolition of an office block to allow for construction of a building accommodating a mixed use scheme of A1/A3/B floorspace and up to 210 student bedspaces has been approved on appeal. (2 CASE DETAILS The mixed use scheme is to comprise up to 500 square metres A1/A3/B1 floorspace at ground floor level and up to 210 student bedspaces on the upper floors. The appeal relating to the development, at Kingsgate Business Centre in Kingston-uponThames, Surrey, followed an initial application in April 2014. Refusal to allow the development was based

on the committee’s finding that inadequate financial contributions had been proposed towards public realm enhancements directly related to the site and the part of the North Kingston Development brief area within which the development would fall. The proposal was also adjudged to involve unacceptable building height and vehicular access arrangements. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED Inspector Jennifer Vyse noted that the Kingston Town Centre Area Action Plan (AAP), adopted in July 2008, stated that the council “will work with Kingston College and adjoining landowners to secure a number of objectives including retention of the Kingsgate Business Centre and adjacent printing works for employment use, or their redevelopment for B1 business use, or ground floor B1 use with managed student accommodation above”. Mrs Vyse also noted the North Kingston Development Brief Stage One: Land Use and Spatial Parameters (November 2013), which, in relation to the site in question, proposed “employment use on lower levels, with residential or student accommodation on upper levels, with land at the north-eastern and southwestern ends also being safeguarded for access, public open space or public realm”.

At the inquiry it was confirmed for the council that this development brief had not been adopted as a supplementary planning document but as supplementary planning guidance. The brief is underpinned by the AAP and is intended to provide a framework for the comprehensive transformation of the area. Vyse found that Kingston Council’s case at the inquiry relied “almost entirely” on the conflict between the development proposed and the land use vision for the area as set out in the consultation draft of the Stage Two Brief. Given that conflict, it was argued that the scheme would be premature pending adoption of that document. One of the key issues was whether, having regard to advice in the Planning Practice Guidance (Planning Guidance), the proposal should be considered as premature in the light of the emerging Stage Two North Kingston Development Brief. But Vyse concluded that government guidance,

stating “…arguments that an application is premature are unlikely to justify a refusal of planning permission other than where it is clear that the adverse impacts of granting permission would signiﬁcantly and demonstrably outweigh the beneﬁts,” was germane here.

Appeal Ref: APP/ Z5630/A/14/2216307

HOUSING

Minehead residential scheme approved on appeal (1 SUMMARY A residential development of up to 71 dwellings – with associated access, landscaping and associated works – has been allowed on appeal on a site to the south of Minehead, Somerset, despite considerable local opposition.

Up to 71 dwellings are to be built on 2.1 hectares of farmland in Minehead

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DiF { D (2 CASE DETAILS: The appeal site lies off Hopcott Road, Minehead – next to the A39, and comprising approximately 2.1 hectares of agricultural land. Inspector Joanne Jones summarised the main issues in the case as being twofold: whether, without a master plan for the wider site, the appeal proposal would prejudice the development of the area in a planned and sustainable manner; and whether the proposed project’s contributions in respect of affordable housing, community facilities, and travel and transport facilities would be necessary to enable the development to go ahead. In opposing the proposed development, West Somerset Council invoked policies SP/1 and SP/5 of the West Somerset District Local Plan 2006. These policies, which set out the council’s approach to sustainable development in terms of locational strategy and development proposals, were seen by Jones as relevant and consistent with current national policy in the NPPF and its presumption in favour of sustainable development. However, against that was the absence of a five-year housing land supply, thus tempering the weight that can be attached to these Local Plan policies. Said Jones: “Where a council cannot demonstrate a fiveyear housing land supply its policies for the supply of housing should not be considered up to date.” Also, in making its original decision, the council considered that the proposal, without a master plan for the wider Hopcott Area, would prejudice the planned and sustainable development of the wider site allocation. However, while sympathising

DECISIONS IN FOCUS with the council’s desire to ‘master plan’ the entire site allocation, the appeal proposal would represent “a relatively small part of the housing numbers, at approximately 9.5 per cent”. Jones further noted that there is also no development plan policy requirement to undertake such an exercise. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED With the NPPF setting out a presumption in favour of sustainable development based on three mutually dependent dimensions – economic, social and environmental – inspector Jones considered that above all three dimensions would be met by the appeal scheme without requiring a wider master plan. She also concluded that the proposal “would make a strategic contribution towards addressing the shortfall of housing, and especially aﬀordable housing, within the district of West Somerset.”

interest, having been built at the same time as the Metropolitan Railway. (2 CASE DETAILS Three Rivers District Council had refused an initial application based on an absence of affordable housing and contributions to various infrastructure facilities. At the time of the application, these objections were supported by various development plan and Supplementary Guidance policies. But a Planning Obligation had since been submitted to the council confirming that it secures all the matters deemed necessary by the council. Inspector Phillip Ware said: “I consider that the obligation meets the policy in the NPPF and the tests in Regulation 122 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010”. What remained at issue is one thing – the effect of the proposed demolition on the

character of the area. (3 CONCLUSION REACHED Ware concluded that while the proposed demolition would result in the loss of a non-designated heritage asset, “the significance of that asset has been seriously degraded over time and there is a clear and convincing justification for the loss of the building”. Dismissing representations by third parties concerning the loss of hotel/restaurant use, Ware also noted that the redevelopment scheme had attracted “some concern in relation to the effect on local residents’ amenity”. But, concluded Ware, the development would be set back at some distance from adjoining properties, and this was not a matter on which this appeal should turn.

Appeal Ref: APP/ P1940/A/14/2217333

Keay Homes intends to convert the former hotel into 37 dwellings Appeal Ref: APP/ H3320/A/14/2221931

HOUSING

Green light for homes on former hotel site (1 SUMMARY Permission has been granted for the demolition of an existing hotel and restaurant to allow for the construction of 31 residential units, with associated parking and communal open space at Long Island Exchange in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. Historically, the building is of local

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+ We’d like to incorporate your comment, insight and analysis into Decisions in Focus each month. Whether you can oﬀer a brief obversation on a matter of interest within an inspector’s judgement or an informed interpretation of a decision, please let us know by emailing DiF at editorial@theplanner.co.uk

ROUNDUP Here are seven more decisions that we think are worth a look this month. All the details and inspector’s letters can be found on the Planning Portal website: www.pcs.planningportal.gov.uk

APPEAL DECISIONS

Appeal reference: APP/ D3450/A/13/2200693

ENERGY

(1) Application: Appeal against refusal to grant planning permission for a photovoltaic solar park and ancillary infrastructure on farmland in East Devon. Decision: Appeal dismissed. Main issues: The proposal would impose incongruous, man-made elements on a significant proportion of the ‘Green Wedge’. This would lead to the loss of a large part of the existing sense of openness between settlements. This is likely to lead to a diminution in the sense of separation between settlements. It would cause a significant degree of landscape harm and conflicts with local plan policies. Appeal reference: APP/ U1105/A/14/2214897 (2) Application: Appeal against refusal for permission to build and operate a single 500kW wind turbine with transformer housing, cabling to existing sub-station, sub-station container and temporary crane hardstanding at Uttoxeter quarry, Staffordshire. Decision: Appeal dismissed. Main issues: The turbine would be unduly dominant having regard to the flat valley landform and the limited scale of the valley slopes. It would cause significant harm to the landscape – as would the timing of the proposal in relation to the permitted working life of the quarry – and be detrimental to bird life. It would also prejudice future sports provision including sailing on part of the restored quarry, and a community cricket ground.

(3) Application: Appeal for non-determination of application for the erection of 4 wind turbines with a maximum height of 126.5 m and associated development for 25 years, including control building, transformers, underground cabling, crane hardstandings, access, culvert and oﬀ-site highway works at land at Hempnall, Norwich. Decision: Appeal allowed. Main issues: The secretary of state agreed with the inspector that the three turbines would visually intrude on the nearby churchyard but that the harm to its setting would be less than substantial. Similarly, the wider area’s character would not be preserved, but again the harm would be less than substantial. Appeal reference: APP/ L2630/A/13/2207755

HOUSING

(5) Application: Appeal against refusal for planning permission to demolish bungalows and erect six semi-detached dwellings with access, car parking and garaging at Dunmow, Essex. Decision: Appeal dismissed. Main issues: This proposal would harm the character of the area and in the terms of Policy S7 its appearance would not protect or enhance the particular character of the location. The proposed layout and design as a whole does not reach the standard sought in the framework, which states that the government attaches great importance to the design of the built environment, good design is

a key aspect of sustainable development, is indivisible from good planning, and should contribute positively to making places better for people. Appeal reference: APP/ C1570/A/14/2223291 (6) Application: Appeal against the refusal of an outline planning permission with all matters reserved except for access for up to 110 homes, public open space, landscaping, highway works and associated engineering works on land at Sedbury, Gloucestershire. Decision: Appeal allowed. Main issues: The proposal would be contained comfortably by its natural boundaries. Any rural tranquillity that the site may once have had is diminished by traffic on two main roads bordering the site. The appellant had argued the council’s evidence at inquiry was not robust, especially about delivery of sites making up its five-year supply of housing land. Since then, the council has said it now believes it is unable to show a 5-year housing land supply. The inspector ruled the council acted in good faith at the inquiry in the way evidence was tested and has submitted proof to substantiate its reasons for dismissing the appellant’s application for the costs Appeal reference: APP/ P1615/A/14/2220590/APP/ P1615/A/14/2220590 (7) Application: Appeal against refusal of outline permission to redevelop a vehicle breakers yard, including demolition of existing buildings and removal of hard standings, to build five private and

five social ECO housing units with separate access roads at Brinkley, South Cambridgeshire. Decision: Appeal dismissed. Main issues: The proposal would bring some short-term economic benefits during construction in terms of jobs but such benefits would be short-lived. But there would be serious harm to the social dimension as the dwellings would be isolated and remote from basic everyday services and this would be contrary to the framework, which says that journey lengths for employment, shopping, leisure, education and other activities should be minimised. Future residents would be badly disadvantaged, particularly those on lower incomes without access to a car. The benefits would be outweighed by the adverse impacts. Accordingly the proposal is not sustainable. Appeal reference: APP/ W0530/A/14/2216081

COMMERCIAL

(8) Application: Appeal against refusal for change of use of former stables and kennels to holiday lets at Walsall, West Midlands. Decision: Appeal dismissed. Main issues: The existing buildings have a very domestic appearance, and this would be exacerbated by additional windows and doors. harming the rural setting. The use of the two outbuildings as holiday lets would intensify the use of an access with substandard visibility, unacceptably increasing the risk to highway users. Appeal reference: APP/ K3415/A/14/2222614

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LLegal landscape CONFIDENTIALITY AND VIABILITY: AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE? Viability is a central concept in national planning policy: if a developer can prove that section 106 contributions make a development unviable, they need not be provided. Viability as a material consideration can therefore be something of a panacea to unachievable section 106 demands. But it may come with a bitter twist – for how do you prove lack of viability, if proof involves commercially sensitive information and planning decision-making is a very public process? Two recent legal challenges have explored the extent to which members of the public can force disclosure of these financial viability assessments. The first is the Heygate Estate decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) (EA/2013/0162) (May 2014). The tribunal decided that the local planning authority had to disclose to a member of the public only parts of a financial viability assessment produced by the developer in order to justify a lower than policy-compliant level of affordable housing. In particular, a bespoke development model created by the developer was held to be a ‘trade secret’, disclosure

(1)

Hugh Flanagan

which would be of value to the developer’s commercial competitors. It should not be disclosed. Sales values of properties, on the other hand, were not as sensitive because they would generally reﬂect known market values. They could be disclosed. The second case is R (Perry) v Hackney LBC [2014] EWHC

“IT WILL BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR A DEVELOPER TO BE SURE THAT HIS COMMERCIALLY SENSITIVE APPRAISAL WILL NOT MAKE IT BEYOND THE LOCAL PLANNING AUTHORITY INTO THE HANDS OF COMMERCIAL RIVALS”

3499 (October 2014). The authority’s decision to grant planning permission was judicially reviewed on the basis that it was unlawful for councillors to proceed on the basis of a summary only of a ﬁnancial viability assessment, with the full commercially sensitive document withheld from members despite it having been provided to council oﬃcers. The challenge was dismissed: this was a lawful way to proceed, especially since the developer’s appraisal had been independently reviewed by consultants acting on behalf of the council. Importantly, however, the High Court did not determine the question of whether members of the public could force disclosure of the appraisal. That was a matter to be resolved by the Information Commissioner

and potentially the tribunal, as happened in the Heygate decision. So where does this leave us? The recent case law shows us that the position is complex. Although confidential material can be withheld from the councillors making the decision (see Perry), a member of the public may still have rights to access it under Freedom of Information legislation, which rights can be enforced before the Information Commissioner or the tribunal (see Heygate). Nor can complete comfort be taken from the fact that the commissioner or tribunal may refuse disclosure of some or all of the commercially sensitive material; the problem remains that each case is likely to be fact-sensitive, so that there is little certainty on the matter. It will be very difficult for a developer to be sure that his commercially sensitive appraisal will not make it beyond the local planning authority into the hands of commercial rivals. A third way does potentially exist. It may be possible to keep the contents of an appraisal generic – by using market costs and values, for instance, rather than the developer’s own commercially sensitive assumptions. This may not be an option on more complex developments where bespoke models are needed, but where it is possible it can neatly bypass the confidentiality minefield. HUGH FLANAGAN Hugh Flanagan is a barrister at Francis Taylor Building. Called to the bar in 2008. He practises in planning, environmental and public law

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YOUNG PEOPLE, HOUSING AND THE PLANNING SYSTEM “When we look at domestic risk, the biggest risk to financial stability and therefore to the durability of the expansion of the economy – those risks centre in the housing market… There are not sufficient houses built in the UK. To go back to Canada, there are half as many people in Canada as in the UK, twice as many houses are built every year in Canada as in the UK and we can’t influence that… a housing market that has deep, deep structural problems.” * Is house building the problem? Or is it the planning system that is stalling everything? Or perhaps the politicians playing politics with such an important matter? Whatever the answer(s) may be, two things are clear: (1) the status quo in relation to housing in modern Britain is wholly unsatisfactory; and (2) young people are overwhelmingly and disproportionately the victims of the housing crisis – with a quarter of 20-34 year-olds still living with their parents, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Governor of the Bank of England has not only underscored the fundamental problem, he has, moreover, redefined it as a threat to our financial stability. So what are the potential solutions? I offer two thoughts.

(1) Stop playing politics Politicians from all the major parties, whether local or central, must realise that the issue of housing is beyond political games. We lack the foresight, still less any strategic planning, which meets the clear (and overdue) demand for sustainable housing development. Some local communities often seek to oppose any form of development, especially housing, and for reasons that are sometimes entirely disingenuous. This has only led to chronic shortage, and artificially inflated house prices – making it completely unaffordable for young people. What we need is an evidenced based, strategic body which carefully plans for Britain’s housing growth, for the next 25-50 years – and all successive governments must steer said plans to their ultimate implementation without political interference. Easier said than done? This is not a novel idea. Lord Heseltine’s 2012 No Stone Unturned paper on

(2)

growth challenged the government to think big, and to stop politicising planning projects and decisions that aﬀect too many of our citizens – a pursuit most young people would welcome.

(2) Less green, but still pleasant Another potentially heinous idea is to look at releasing more green belt land. Yes, brownﬁeld sites are available, and yes, granted permission must be implemented on those and other sites. But for many

“POLITICIANS FROM ALL THE MAJOR PARTIES MUST REALISE THAT THE ISSUE OF HOUSING IS BEYOND POLITICAL GAMES”

Hashi Mohamed

decades now, rigid green belt policy has stood in the way of much-needed housing development, often for the wrong reasons – politicians speaking in sound bites of the ‘green lungs’ being protected from urban sprawl. It is no coincidence that much of the opposition to development in the green belt comes from (although by no means exclusively) older members of the community, almost certainly established homeowners. In other words; guaranteed voters. A body free from political interference would consider meeting our chronic housing shortage by releasing land in a proportionate and sustainable way, aimed at meeting our future generation’s needs. In sum, the culmination of a rise in population in urban areas, sharp decreases in the building of homes where they’re most needed, and a much politicised planning system have created a perfect storm of young people either never realising the dream of becoming homeowners, or realising said dream much later than their parents did. These two thoughts are far from being the perfect answers, and factors contingent on them not discussed in detail here, but they may go some way to addressing this issue – an issue which has been identiﬁed as a risk to our economy, and which has let down young people in this country. * Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, 18 May 2014, Sky News interview HASHI MOHAMED Hashi Mohamed is a barrister with No5 Chambers in London and was called to the bar in 2010. His specialisms include planning and environment, and public law

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Career { D E V E L O P M E N T C BUILDING CONFIDENCE

We asked young planners what career development advice would be helpful and they were pretty clear: how do you build conﬁdence? Past Young Planner of the Year Nikola Miller oﬀers her thoughts

hen we talk about ‘young planners’, we’re talking about experience, not age – people within the first 10 years or so of their planning career, writes Nikola. This encompasses varying degrees of confidence, experience and ability. But what do we mean by ‘confidence’ in this context? For me there are two aspects to this: (1) Confidence in yourself, which is required by young planners in terms of confidence in their ability and expertise as professionals. This may encompass the confidence to speak at conferences, to ask questions, to speak up in the workplace or to suggest ideas in meetings. (2) Confidence in the profession. I think these are different, but both are vital.

Confidence in planning To me, confidence in ourselves as planners begins with confidence in planning as a profession, and in the planning system as a process. People become planners for different reasons. Some are looking for a stable job within an established profession; some are interested in the regulatory function of planning. For me, and I suspect for a number of young planners, becoming a planner was about creating great places for people. No matter what your reason for joining the profession, I believe you must have confidence in planning itself. Unfortunately, the political environment (in England in particular) has recently been scathing of planning, 40

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with the prime minister himself describing planners as “enemies of enterprise”. In Scotland there is a more supportive political situation where planning is seen as a more positive process and delivery mechanism. However, planning, planners and the planning system are still often criticised for being part of the ‘problem’ – whether that’s delivery of housing or recovery from economic austerity. We can help build greater conﬁdence in planning itself by positioning it as part of the solution – a driver of economic growth and delivery of development. That doesn’t mean development at any cost, but the right development in the right place. Personally, I have the utmost conﬁdence in the power of planning to act as a positive force for change – to drive economic growth; to deliver places that are healthy, safe and

sustainable; and most of all places that are well designed and of a high quality, in which people actually want to live, work and play. Good planners are conﬁdent in their role as planners because of their conﬁdence in planning and the planning system. It’s something that should be there from the start.

Confidence in yourself Personal confidence is something that a lot of planners (definitely not only young planners) struggle with. How can you build yours? c Join your local RTPI young planners’ network and take up the networking and CPD opportunities they provide. They are an excellent way of meeting other young planners, and will help you position yourself as one of them. Don’t worry that you don’t know as much as your line manager at work – that will come. c Join an RTPI professional network, I M AG E S | PE T E R S E A R L E

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l group or forums that relates to your area of planning practice. This will help you make useful connections, keep up with trends and news, and expand your knowledge. c Volunteer for Planning Aid (or PAS in Scotland), the RTPI-supported planning support service for individuals and communities. I’ve found this a great way to develop my confidence through presenting to communities and young people about planning, and meeting other planners and people involved in the profession. c Find a mentor. You may have an APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) mentor. Choose that person carefully. My APC mentor also became a mentor in a wider sense. Through the Scottish Young Planners’ Network and PAS, I also met a number of other people who have acted as career mentors and role models. c Keep up with your CPD (Continuing Professional Development) – and take it seriously. This is a good way of planning your career development and measuring the growth in your professional knowledge. c Don’t be afraid to move around. You don’t have to work in the same organisation for your whole career. I found that the biggest boosts to my confidence professionally have come from my varying experiences in the private and voluntary sectors. c Stay informed. Young planners groups organise lots of events exploring planning, from study tours to talks and debates. Plenty of other built environment organisations are doing the same. Keep up to date with the latest thinking and developments by getting out and about, and by reading widely. c Challenge yourself. Put yourself forward to speak at that seminar, volunteer to update your team on that new bit of legislation, join a new group or organisation. It might be daunting at first but I guarantee you’ll come out the other end with more confidence in your ability. Nikola Miller is the RTPI Scotland’s planning policy and practice officer

Cath Ranson Q&A

RTPI President Cath Ranson (CR) entered planning as a young geologist in the late 1970s. We asked her how she developed confidence and what advice she would pass on to today’s new planners. How did you develop confidence in your abilities as a planner? CR: Trying to enter the planning profession in the second half of the 1970s was tough, particularly as a young geologist without a planning qualification! Learning as much as I could about my own role and helping out on other projects developed the foundations on which my confidence grew. How did you build confidence in dealing with people outside the profession? CR: Planning is very much about leadership and the wisdom to know when to lead and when to encourage others to take up the baton. Volunteering has helped me with developing confidence – in leadership skills, project management, public speaking, coaching and mentoring – whether as a motorcycle instructor, a Scout leader or through RTPIrelated activities. What are the essential confidence-building skills for young planners today? CR: Leadership (and followership), communication skills and a capacity to see the world from the perspective of others. Equally important is a nurturing environment, with a cultural commitment to teamwork and continuing improvement.

Any additional advice? CR: Strong foundations, such as an initial planning education together with structured graduate development, are important – as is getting a good cross-section of experience. However, equally important is the humility to know that around every corner is something new to learn. Read the full Q&A with Cath online at: bit.ly/1xZ6sZo

Resources

n Find your local young planners network: www.rtpi.org.uk/knowledge/networks/ young-planners/

Confidence vs self-esteem ‘Confidence’ and ‘self-esteem’ are not the same, says personal skills training website Skills You Need (www.skillsyouneed.com). “Confidence is the term we use to describe how we feel about our ability to perform roles, functions and tasks. Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves, the way we look, the way we think – whether or not we feel worthy or valued.” It’s perfectly possible for people with high self-esteem to have low confidence – and even vice-versa.

n Browse the RTPI’s professional networks, groups and forums: www.rtpi.org.uk/ knowledge/networks/ n Volunteer for Planning Aid: www.rtpi. org.uk/planning-aid/ n Volunteer for PAS: www.pas.gov.uk/ n Find a mentor to support your APC: www.rtpi.org.uk/membership/become-anrtpi-member/ assessment-of-professional-competence/ mentoring-in-the-apc/ n Find out about CPD requirements and support: www.rtpi.org.uk/education-andcareers/cpd-for-rtpi-members/ n Workplace skills organisation Mind Tools has a brief guide to building selfconﬁdence, along with a range of more in-depth resources: www.mindtools.com/ selfconf.html

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Plan ahead P

Send feedback to editorial@theplanner.co.uk Tweet us @The Planner_RTPI

The politics of planning Planners will often bemoan the politicisation of planning. But isn’t it unavoidable? A one-day event in January will look at the “healthy tension” between planners and politicians and how that plays itself out within the planning system “Planning is a democratic process and sometimes people forget that,” observes Paul Barnard assistant director for strategic planning and infrastructure at Plymouth City Council. “Planning officers are there to provide the technical expertise and professional assessment, and to explain the process on individual planning applications. “But a crucial part of decision-making is the political dimension,” he adds. “There’s an interplay between the art and science of town planning and the political decisionmakers. I was keen to explore the relationship between decision-makers in terms of how politics influences planning and how planning officers work with members and addressing those issues. There are healthy tensions between the role of officers

“THERE ARE MANY WHO TAKE THE PERSPECTIVE THAT PLANNING DECISIONS ARE A PROFESSIONAL JUDGEMENT. SO WHAT’S IT GOT TO DO WITH POLITICIANS?”

Paul B Barnard:“I’m keen to get an insight from politicians about the pressures and issues they’re grappling with”

and members and I see that as a positive.” Of course, planning is unavoidably political – it’s about the kind of communities we determine we want to live in. It’s about the infrastructure that underpins those communities and provides links to other communities. It’s about the choices we make about how we live – and who gets to make those choices. It’s political. But how does the decisionmaking process manifest itself within communities – and nationally? Answering that question is the aim of a one-day seminar at Bristol’s Watershed on 30 January 2015. Organised by Barnard and colleagues, ‘Politics and planning’ will look at the respective roles of members and oﬃcers in decisionmaking. Speakers at the event will include former housing and planning minister Nick Raynsford who, Barnard promises, will “be speaking on what he did when a minister

and giving some reﬂections of the national government’s reforms of the planning system”. “I’m keen to get an insight from politicians about the pressures and issues they’re grappling with, whether dealing with applications or strategic policy – particularly housing numbers and housing supply,” says Barnard. Thus, other speakers will include councillors Jeremy Christophers from Teignbridge, Edwina Hannaford from Cornwall and Bill Stevens from

Plymouth City Council. Professor Chris Balch of Plymouth University will be offering a “theoretical context” for the politics of planning, while Stephen Teagle, managing director of affordable housing and regeneration at Galliford Try, will be offering a developer’s view of the political decision-making process within the planning system and outlining what developers actually want from the “interplay between politics and planning”. “They realise it’s a democratic decisionmaking process. But what do developers actually want?” Barnard asks. “There are many who take the perspective that planning decisions are a professional judgement,” he continues. “So what’s it got to do with politicians? They’re lay people. But we have the development of the government’s localism agenda and how that’s playing out on the ground. We have neighbourhood plans and local people have more say in decision-making. “There’s lots of things that councils are doing across the country that are engaging citizens in decision-making and giving them a role in planning. I think that’s the exercise of democratic decision-making.”

P O LI T I C S A N D P L A N N I N G Politics and Planning: The respective roles of members and oﬃcers in contemporary decision-making Where: The Watershed, Bristol BS1 5TX When: Friday 30 January 2015 Find out more and book at: http://bit.ly/11fVH8k

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DIARY

LISTINGS Talks, conferences, training, master classes – everything you need to keep on top of the latest thinking and developments in the planning world.

LONDON 10 December – Centre for London: Are cycle superhighways good for London? The number of cyclists on London’s streets has grown enormously, and calls for better protection and safety for cyclists grow louder. Transport for London is consulting on two continuous cycle routes spanning Central London that would provide a clear and convenient route for cyclists, physically separated from other vehicles. Centre for London will welcome representatives of those behind the proposals and their critics. Venue: See website Details: www.bit. ly/1uqojWG 10 December – Knowing and governing cities through urban indicators, city benchmarking, and real-time dashboards Talk by Professor Rob Kitchin, an ERC advanced investigator in the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Venue: Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London Details: www.bit. ly/1xzQNB0 10 December – Bartlett International Lecture Series – Extrastatecraft Massive global infrastructure systems, administered by mixes of public and private cohorts and driven by profound irrationalities, generate de facto, undeclared forms of polity faster than any even quasi-oﬃcial forms of governance can legislate them. Keller Easterling, an architect, writer and professor at Yale University, presents this talk. Venue: Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London Details: www.bit. ly/1yiMdUP

SOUTH WEST 6 January – Effective use of S106 Planning Advisory Service (PAS) seminar focused on the legislation, guidance and case law including the relationship with other developer payments, existing good practice and practical approaches. Venue: Bristol TBC Details: www.bit.ly/1Hftpfd 13 January – Viability twoday event PAS course looking at the context of viability in terms of guidance and legislation, the language and terms used, the application of residual valuation models, and the appeal and examination experience. Venue: Thistle Exeter City, Exeter Details: www.bit. ly/1xzZTO9 26 January – Fracking: shale gas and oil exploration planning workshop Planning Advisory Workshop seminar for council officers and members. An introduction to shale gas exploration and the extraction process, the planning process for decision-making on shale gas applications and licensing process. Venue: The Guildhall Details: www.bit. ly/1qlgNhv 30 January – Politics and planning: The respective roles of members and officers in contemporary decision-making An event to explore some of the political aspects of planning, including the perspectives of politicians on their role as portfolio holders, and the relationship between officers and consultants with politicians involved in various aspects of the planning process. Venue: The Watershed, Bristol Details: www.bit. ly/11fVH8k

DON’T MISS RTPI's Guide to the planning system in 2015 A one-day conference to address two big political themes – planning in the context of wider discussions around devolution to local government and how planners are coping with resource limitations. Chaired by past RTPI president Peter Geraghty, the day will incorporate sessions on how planners can marry people and place, good practice on the duty to co-operate, how to secure high performance from the planning system and what the private sector expects from public sector planners. Speakers will include Ross Martin, chief executive of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, and DCLG director of planning Ruth Stanier. Date: 26 February Venue: The Hatton, 51-53 Hatton Garden, London Details: www.bit.ly/1xZkPgk

11 February – The Academy of Urbanism Glass-House debates: Is our view of place too shortsighted? Wolfson Prize winners David Rudlin and Nicolas Falk speak. How much do we consider the longterm consequences of our decisions and actions around place? Can we make quick wins and still achieve long-term success for people and places? Are sustainability and political and ﬁnancial attention spans mutually exclusive? Members only. Venue: Bristol Details: www.bit. ly/1uqmeKl 25 February – NPPF and NPPG: lessons & case studies An up-to-date review of some of the emerging lessons since the introduction of the NPPF and its supporting guidance, highlighting key issues from the most recent appeals and case law. Venue: Town Hall, Cheltenham Details: www.bit. ly/1qHvtYB

SOUTH EAST 16 January – Fracking: shale gas & oil exploration planning workshop Planning Advisory Service workshop for local authority oﬃcers and members. An introduction to shale gas exploration and the extraction process, the planning process for decision-making on shale gas applications and licensing process. Venue: West Sussex

County Council, Horsham Details: www.bit. ly/1vlZsqP

EAST MIDLANDS 12 December – Urban and rural regeneration Multi-professional breakfast debate. Key speakers: Councillor Max Hunt of Leicestershire County Council and Nicky Morgan MP. Venue: Loughborough University, Leicestershire Details: www.bit.ly/1t8i7ir

NORTH WEST 8 January – Eﬀective use of S106 Planning Advisory Service seminar focused on the legislation, guidance and case law including the relationship with other developer payments, existing good practice and practical approaches. Venue: Manchester (venue TBC) Details: www.bit. ly/1AdgSXA

deep – a day devoted to minerals planning A seminar on topical issues and matters to consider when assessing mineral planning applications. The speakers will include Natural England members, Nick Tennant and Eamon Mythen of the Department for Communities and Local Government, and planning inspector Jonathan King. Venue: Watson Burton LLP, Newcastle Details: www.bit. ly/1yyYrJa 25 February – Politics of planning With the general election looming this seminar will look at the implications that politics at both the local and national level are having on the planning system and the development process. Chaired by Ross Smith, director of policy at the North East Chamber of Commerce. Venue: International Centre for Life, Newcastle Details: www.bit. ly/1vwqThz

YORKSHIRE

EAST 28 January – Building the city Half-day seminar looking at the past, present and future of Peterborough, from the origins of the new town to its realisation. Venue: Town Hall, Peterborough Details: www.bit. ly/1z3eLlm

NORTH EAST 04 February – Digging

19 February – Forward planning: regaining the initiative What can planners do to reclaim a central role in strategic and spatial planmaking? This conference takes an overview of the evolving picture, invites ideas from key thinkers and looks at examples of good practice in strategic thinking, forward planning and cooperation in this region and beyond. Venue: Leeds, TBC Details: www.bit.ly/1takthx

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NEWS

RTPI { Helping people engage in the planning system MORE THAN 17,000 QUERIES HAVE ALREADY BEEN DEALT WITH THIS YEAR BY PLANNING AID DIRECT, THE WEBBASED RESOURCE, AS PLANNING AID ENGLAND (PAE) – NOW IN ITS FIFTH DECADE – CONTINUES TO DEMYSTIFY AND EXPLAIN THE PLANNING SYSTEM TO THE PUBLIC. KAT SALTER, PAE PLANNING ADVISER, REPORTS Since it originally started in 1973, the Planning Aid service has supported local communities and individuals to get to grips with the planning process and to have an influence over decisions that affect their local areas. We do this by providing free, independent and professional planning advice. Over the years, the service has responded to change and to the different needs of communities. Throughout our history, the contribution of RTPI members has been crucial. Most members will be aware of the key role PAE is currently playing in helping to support communities undertake neighbourhood planning – we are helping 235 – and the way we assist our volunteers on casework, outreach and community engagement more generally. Our busy advice line (by phone and email) operates five days a week. But we offer other services too.

Planning Aid Direct Our newer services now include a Q&A web resource – Planning Aid Direct. It provides answers to those questions people often ask about planning, explains how the planning system works and signposts where to go to next. The website is proving to be a very popular resource, with more than 1,600 hits a month on a range of topics including enforcement, how to comment on a planning application and an explanation of the plan-led system. The advice line and the team respond to at least 60 queries a week. The demand is growing. As planning adviser John Harrison told me: “We get a wide variety of questions to answer and with some you have to think quickly.

RTPI news pages are edited by Tino Hernandez at the RTPI, 41 Botolph Lane, London EC3R 8DL

It is very interesting work and certainly keeps the advisers on their toes.”

Outreach Our casework and outreach function is delivered through a network of more than 1,130 volunteers, most of whom are RTPI members. Individuals as well as communities have been assisted, with volunteers helping a range of clients. They include a group of students in Southampton affected by enforcement action being taken against their landlord, a charity in Peterborough, who run a community garden on a site that is being redeveloped. A group of elderly residents in the North-West were helped to understand a planning application. This support is greatly appreciated by our clients. We regularly get fantastic and very grateful feedback about the work done by our volunteers. Equally, those assisting find volunteering for PAE to be a very rewarding experience as they witness groups engaging in the planning system with confidence. Volunteering also provides extremely useful CPD – one volunteer commented that her experiences enabled her to engage and understand “other aspects of planning than those of the day-to-day job”. The neighbourhood planning groups we support are based all over England and are very varied, ranging from small rural parishes to inner-city urban forums. PAE has therefore been one of the main organisations to kick-start this form of community-led planning, through its advice on project planning, pulling a plan together (especially around issues such as policy writing, the evidence base and site assessment) and advising on consultation and engagement. This assistance is appreciated, and as one group commented: “It was invaluable to have someone with community experience to be able to guide on consultation exercise(s)…. The help we have received...from Planning Aid England volunteers could make all the difference to a successful outcome of our plan.” Planning Aid England could not deliver its services without the support of volunteers and there are lots of opportunities to get involved, including assisting with casework, community engagement and helping to raise the profile of the organisation. Can you help us? Your expertise and knowledge is needed more than ever. n Planning Aid Direct: http://planningaid.custhelp.com/ Interested in volunteering: http://bit.ly/ VolunteerPAE

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Editorial E: rtpinews@rtpi.org.uk

RTPI (switchboard) T: 020 7929 9494 F: 020 7929 9490

Registered charity no. 262865 Registered charity in Scotland SCO37841

RTPI SHORTS

Phil Williams Head of Planning CARDIFF CITY COUNCIL RTPI, VICE PRESIDENT ELECT

(1) What do you currently do? I am head of the council’s planning service. I have many responsibilities including leading on strategic planning and the preparation of the local development plan, SPG preparation, and the authority’s infrastructure plan. I am responsible for communities and heritage strategies and lead the development management team in negotiating with developers to secure high-quality design and sustainable communities. I ensure the planning service aligns itself with the council’s corporate plan to deliver eﬃciency and eﬀectiveness.

ENTER THE RTPI AWARDS FOR PLANNING EXCELLENCE 2015 Highlighting exceptional examples of planning and celebrating the contribution that planners and planning make to society, the awards are now open for entries. Rigorously judged by a panel of experienced senior planners, the annual RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence welcome entries from planning initiatives of all types and sizes; we are interested in the scale of the achievement, rather than the scale of the project. In 2015 we will be recognising outstanding projects in the following categories:

D AWARRY ENT

(2) If I wasn’t in planning, I’d probably be… I might have been a solicitor or a barrister. I think I’d have been suited to the legal profession. I have a habit of asking questions that, hopefully, are precise, relevant and add value to any debate I am involved in.

(3) What has been your biggest career challenge to date? Delivering a high-quality responsive service in ﬁnancially challenging times. Anyone working in local authorities will understand the challenges that we face to deliver and meet the expectations of the public, developers and elected members. The need for collective responsibility between the public, private, and voluntary sectors is paramount.

(4) What attracted you to the profession? Having studied economics and social geography in the late 1970s at the London School of Economics I became aware of the changing planning agenda which was aiming to shape communities and help create a society that we should be proud of. I saw planning as trying to achieve a balance between economic regeneration, environmental protection and social inclusion. I believe that, as a planner, I could make a real diﬀerence to people’s lives.

(5) Who are or were the planners you have most admired? The ‘3 Sirs’, Abercrombie, Geddes and Howard were central in demonstrating to me how altruism and compassion could be deﬁned in a spatial sense. Their message proved how important planning is in shaping communities and adding value to people’s lives.

(6) Why did you stand to be president of the RTPI? I wanted to bring planning to the centre of the debate on climate change, economic regeneration and addressing social imbalance. The quality of the environment is also central in my belief.

(7) If you could change one thing about the planning profession, what would it be? We need to increase its level of self-conﬁdence, to demonstrate its value in society, explain what we do, and what would happen if we weren’t here.

c Excellence in planning to create economically successful places; c Excellence in planning for community and wellbeing; c Excellence in planning and design for the public realm; c Excellence in planning for the natural environment; c Excellence in planning for built heritage; c Excellence in planning to deliver housing; c Excellence in planning practice for plan-making; c Excellence in planning practice for decisionmaking; and c Excellence in planning to deliver infrastructure. We will also look to recognise and award exemplary people, teams and practices in the following categories: Planning Consultancy of the Year; Small Planning Consultancy of the Year; Local Authority Planning Team of the Year; and Young Planner of the Year. All the project categories are open to recently completed or substantially completed schemes or plans that are at a stage that could be veriﬁed by a site visit or interview. The awards are high impact yet low cost – an excellent way to showcase your achievements to the world, to stakeholders, your peers and indeed potential clients. All winning and shortlisted entrants receive a prestigious awards logo for use on their own promotional materials, and material from their entries will be disseminated through the RTPI’s website and other best practice resources. n For more information go to www.rtpi.org.uk/ awardsforplanningexcellence

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NEWS

RTPI { Making better decisions

THE FINAL PAPER IN THE RTPI’S PLANNING HORIZONS SERIES, A KEY PROJECT IN OUR CENTENARY YEAR, IS PUBLISHED WITH THE SPOTLIGHT ON GOVERNANCE, REPORTS RTPI POLICY OFFICER JOSEPH KILROY The previous four Planning Horizons papers considered challenges such as climate change, demographic shifts, the rise of ‘lifestyle diseases’ and increasing competition and inequity in a globalised world. The complex nature of these challenges means that they require responses at multiple levels, from the local to the global. Making Better Decisions For Places argues that we need to identify how these issues manifest themselves at different levels. Also, how they differ between developing and developed countries and the optimal level at which decisions to address these issues need to be made. To address the challenges takes us beyond just ‘planning.’ These challenges encompass decision-making by authorities and, in the increasingly complex societies in which we live, a wide range of other actors in the public, private and third sectors. The issues we face won’t be resolved by one type of organisation alone or, indeed, by one profession. Our paper also reflects the historic roots of planning as a politically and socially engaged activity. Governance arrangements are increasingly struggling to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. This is demonstrated in increasing public doubts about the efficacy of governments to respond effectively to the range of economic, social and environmental challenges we face in the 21st century. Making Better Decisions For Places explores how governance will need to evolve further if we are to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In many countries, including the UK, the increasing fragmentation of decision-making has made effective responses to major challenges – such as demographic and climate change, sustainable economic growth and healthy

communities – much more difficult. This is for a number of reasons. Decision-making in investment is becoming highly disaggregated, especially along issue-based lines. Siloed decisionmaking can lead to a lack of dialogue and coordination between policy objectives that are actually closely related, such as the provision of housing, transport, and employment. Further, the challenges facing our societies in the 21st century both cross sectoral boundaries but also manifest at various geographical scales, from the international to the local. This challenges the ability of single levels of authority to deal with them decisively for places. From the perspective of planning, the solution to these governance challenges can be found by thinking about how to ensure the best outcomes for places – our towns, cities and communities – and the people who live in them. We need to go beyond a theoretical or generalised preference for any particular level of governance (for example, more centralisation or decentralisation), and instead consider which decisions, within which policy areas, would be best dealt with at which level of governance, and how the various levels of governance need to link together more effectively. Spatial planning emphasises the role of planning in attempting to integrate policy between different sectors and geographical scales, and breaking down departmental and organisational barriers. Making Better Decisions For Places argues that there are certain general principles that should be borne in mind by policy and decision-makers. As part of any policy-making process it is crucial to identify decisions with a primarily national impact and those with a primarily sub-national impact, and put in place appropriate governance arrangements so that these decisions can be made and implemented in the most effective way possible. In order to address major challenges it is essential to align policy objectives and allow decisions to be made on the basis of places where policies interact, rather than on the basis of individual policy objectives. We must also ensure that institutions at all levels are robust enough to make and implement these decisions. We need institutions that are equipped to make and implement decisions at local, regional, city, national, and international levels. In both the developed and developing world it is now critical that we reassess governance arrangements in order to respond effectively to the challenges we face in the 21st century. n To read the report visit www.rtpi.org.uk/ planninghorizons

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SUBS

Amy Roberts Senior Planner

2015 SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS

SOUTHEND ON SEA BOROUGH COUNCIL

Members should now have received details of their RTPI subscription for 2015. Subscriptions are due for renewal on 1 January annually. We are pleased that RTPI numbers continue to grow, demonstrating that members recognise the value and importance of their professional institute and the support it provides. You can spread the cost by setting up a direct debit for payment in equal quarterly instalments. You also have the option of paying online by credit or debit card. You may qualify for a reduced subscription fee if you are on a low income, a student on an RTPI accredited course, or if you started maternity leave during the previous calendar year. If you have any queries email subscriptions@ rtpi.org.uk or phone 020 7929 9463 for more information.

(1) What do you currently do?

n Do take the opportunity to let us know of any changes to your membership details, such as a change of address or email address, by going to www.rtpi.org.uk/proﬁle-page

I work in the development control and building control group in the planning and transport service. I am working with my team to prepare for an examination in public on the council’s emerging development management document, as well as progressing area action plans and development briefs for key sites within the town. I have also worked on the preparation of other planning documents and planning briefs for diﬀerent projects. Southend-on-Sea has strong regeneration ambitions and it is important to have the planning and policy framework to underpin those ambitions. Much of my recent work as part of the strategic planning team has been contributing to the development and preparation of these documents so they can go out to public consultation and ultimately to see their adoption. It’s a great opportunity to shape the future of the borough.

(2) If I wasn’t in planning, I’d probably be… Working as a project manager. I enjoy working as part of a team, organising projects and developing my management skills.

(3) What has been your biggest career challenge to date?

CENTENARY POLL REVEALS PUBLIC WANTS MORE SAY OVER HOW COMMUNITIES DEVELOP A poll commissioned to mark the centenary of the RTPI reveals an overwhelming majority of the public (79 per cent) want a bigger say over the development of their communities. The ﬁndings, also show local people believe that investing directly in their communities is the best route to economic growth. But more than four in ten believe their political leaders are unprepared for future economic challenges and almost a third feel their area has declined over the past ﬁve years. Cath Ranson, president of the RTPI, said: “With the general election just six months away, all the political parties need to recognise that local people want more, not less, say over the future development of their communities.” Only 8 per cent want planning and development decisions left to developers, rejecting the notion that developers should be able to build what they want, where they want. n To read the full report go to www.rtpi.org. uk/planninghorizons

Being given the chance to organise community-led planning sessions to inform development opportunities in the borough. Working with the public is interesting and demanding because of the pressure on you to articulate and interpret the aspirations of residents and businesses and translate those into workable planning policies and plans. I have learnt a lot from this experience, which I have applied to other projects.

(4) What attracted you to the profession? Planning covers a range of topic areas and every day presents a fresh challenge. This makes planning an engaging area in which to work; there is always something new to learn and chances to broaden my skills set.

(5) What is the best thing about your job? Being part of shaping the future of Southend-on-Sea, including the regeneration of the town centre and central area and planning for the growth of London Southend Airport through the area action plans we are producing for these locations. It is great to have the opportunity to meet with residents of Southend-on-Sea and to work with them and elected members to help shape the future of the borough.

(6) What do you like to do away from work? Travel. It is great to see diﬀerent places and experience diﬀerent cultures.

(7) If you could change one thing about the planning profession, what would it be? Public perceptions! We should all be proud of planning and proud of planners because what we do as a profession makes a huge diﬀerence to the lives of people and the way places are shaped and it has the capacity to do great good. It would be great if the public and media could see that.

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INSIGHT

Plan B P

BRING ON THE GLAMOUR PLANNER

WOT’S GOIN’ ON ’ERE, THEN?

“I’m telling you,” insists a prominent young planner to Plan B at a debate about city freedoms (we’re just too cool). “Hugh Ellis wrote The Bill. His colleague, REDACTED, told me.” “Nonsense, nonsense,” we baa-ed in true Stephen Fry stylee. “The TCPA’s head of policy hasn’t the time for such frivolities. He’s a deeply serious man.” The young planner smiled and shrugged. “I’m serious. He wrote The Bill.” A quick bit of research (thanks Wikipedia) reveals that there is, indeed, a screenwriter named Hugh Ellis who wrote nine episodes of the nation’s leading police station-based soap opera between 1997 and 2002. One of them bore the intriguing title This Land Is Ours. Hmm. It can’t be, surely? Not Dr Hugh Ellis, planning firebrand, university lecturer, Friends of the Earth adviser, TCPA head of policy and heavyweight author of such tomes as Rebuilding Britain: Planning For A Better Future? He can’t possibly be the same man as Mr Hugh Ellis, writer of nine The Bill episodes, award-winning film Summer starring Robert Carlyle, short filmmaker and son of actor David Ellis who appeared in – The Bill – can he? Where would he find the time? Plan B has to know. “Dear Dr Hugh,” we email. “Forgive the frivolous inquiry, but… ” “Oh dear, the truth is out!” comes the brief reply. This is too good. This is far too good to let go.

A PACKET OF PLANNERS, PLEASE

You may have noticed that we like a little wordplay at The Planner. Why, only this week we found ourselves earnestly discussing the correct collective noun for planners. You know the kind of thing – ‘a murder of crows’, ‘a pod of dolphins’, and the like. But planners? I guess the appropriate term would depend on where you ﬁt on the bill for the planning circus. If you were a Conservative politician, for example, you might favour ‘a pox of planners’ or even ‘a pettifog’.

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Someone seeking unlikely planning permission might think of ‘a refusal of planners’; those seeking to inﬂuence decisions would probably favour ‘a petition’. House builders may well consider there to be ‘a conspiracy of planners’ or possibly a ‘regulation’. Planners themselves might propose ‘a proposal of planners’ or a ‘draft’, ‘assessment’ or ‘report’. The more cynical among you may think you belong to ‘a commiseration of planners’ or, worse still, ‘a collective howl’. It’s fair to say that planning has something of an identity crisis and, driven to distraction by a particular secretary of state, is rather confused about its role, status and even its name. Perhaps, after all, we are nothing more than ‘a pickle of planners’? Incidentally, we’d welcome your collective noun suggestions via Twitter: @ThePlanner_ RTPI

Another prominent young planner alerted us to an article in The Guardian written by Tom Campbell, author of The Planner (a novel), which you may have seen mentioned in this column in August. In the piece, Campbell eloquently laments the lack of cool in planning, as compared with, say, architecture, and insists that the typical town planner is commonly seen as a “faceless underwhelming dullard”. For the sake of our cities, that are undergoing rapid change, planners need to reinvent themselves with a little more pizazz. “Just as they are needed more than ever,” writes Campbell, “the status of planners and city administrators has never been lower.” We’d like to satirise Mr Campbell but, frankly, he’s right. Few things can be more bleakly funny than the treatment of planning and planners by contemporary politicians. Recognising this, noted screenwriter Hugh Ellis used this year’s Young Planners’ Conference to urge young planners to stand up, reclaim centre stage and shape the future. “We need a bit of Hollywood here,” he said [haha]. “Planning is so important. For the last 30 years I have believed in planning as a sure way to make better places for people. You as a generation need to take on this mantle.” Young planners, you’re not a pickle. You’re a potential.

WE WISH YOU… OH, NEVER MIND With rare sincerity, Plan B wishes all The Planner’s readers a happy holiday season. OK, all right, that was completely insincere. See you next year.

I M A G E S | PA U L B E D N A L L _ F L I C K R / S H U T T E R S T O C K

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