12 minute read
Simon Wicks looks
In the region of 70 per cent of the 551 planners who responded to our survey said they would like more training in technical, management soft skills, with a few more emphasising project management.
Sixty-two per cent told us they were happy with opportunities for development provided by their employers (meaning close to 40 per cent are not), and the greater portion of planners prefer to receive training from external courses than other formats.
Dig into the fi gures and some interesting stories start to suggest themselves. Notably, as we report on pages 6-7, there is a discrepancy between the workplace experiences reported by private and public sector planners. For example, 77 per cent of private sector planners were happy with opportunities for development compared with just 54 per cent of their public sector counterparts.
Almost half of public sector planners, therefore, said they were not satisfi ed with a key element of their career progress. Th eir comments indicated that this is almost certainly a story about resourcing.
Th e survey tells us, too, that people’s training needs are very similar across sectors. But, unsurprisingly, they diff er at diff erent stages of planners’ careers. So, early-years planners have
the greatest appetite for training in technical planning skills (85 per cent) and planners with 25 years’ or more experience the least (52 per cent).
But we also learn that the appetite for project management training peaks among planners with 16-20 years’ experience (84 per cent), as does the desire for more training in soft skills (80 per cent). Can we infer that planners’ careers are tending to change at this point – perhaps with moves into more senior positions, for example?
What’s more, the poll informs us that planners working in housing report a much lower appetite for training in technical planning skills (58 per cent), project management (68 per cent) and soft skills (63 per cent) than their counterparts in development management and planning policy. But they have a greater requirement for management skills (73 per cent).
Is this a refl ection of the diff erent balance of skills actually required in diff erent areas of planning, or of what planners working in diff erent areas perceive their skills requirements to be?
“We need training in those four broad areas and I think all four are covered in our training programmes,” observes Andrew Close, the RTPI’s head of careers, education and professional development. “[Th e survey] illustrates generally the need for planners and members to keep those skills updated and renewed.”
As the main provider of training to planners, and the guardian of chartered status, the institute can gain insights from the survey to inform its own approach to professional development.
Th ere is, for instance, a strongly expressed preference for external training courses, with in-house training coming a distant second. Close says this illustrates two things – “the benefi t of peer-to-peer learning” but also the need for employers to recognise that “there’s real benefi t to getting out of the offi ce and learning”.
“Employers need to have training budgets and we have good examples of that from our learning partners,” he adds. However, as resourcing issues are prominent in the survey, Close acknowledges the need to mix up learning formats.
“Sometimes it’s diffi cult to get out of the offi ce, hence we have other things people can do. …You have to be clever about diff erent things. People shouldn’t be afraid about webinars and online courses, for example.”
L E A R N I N G C U R V E S
WHAT DOES THE PLANNER’S CAREERS SURVEY TELL US ABOUT HOW PLANNERS FEEL ABOUT THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED BY THEIR EMPLOYERS? SIMON WICKS TAKES A LOOK
>> IN WHAT AREAS WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE MORE TRAINING?
Technical planning skills 68%
Project management 73%
Management 70%
Soft skills 69%
Breadth or depth?
One thing that emerges from the survey and the interviews in this issue of Th e Planner is that planning is often being integrated into regeneration or ‘placemaking’ in local authorities, or set alongside housing and economic development.
Is this a response to a loss of distinct resources for planning, or a recognition that it has a crossdisciplinary breadth? Even so, policy and practice demand ever more niche capabilities. Should you be a generalist or a specialist? How do you even know which pathway is best for you?
In Edinburgh City Council – winner of the RTPI’s 2019 Learning Partner Award – planners work alongside architects, environmentalists, transport specialists and more within the city’s ‘place development service’.
David Leslie, the council’s chief planning offi cer, says he and colleagues take a “joined-up view” of development, encouraging staff to move between diff erent teams within the service.
“Th ere are quite a number of people who have moved from the planning service into related services, such as housing and economic development,” he remarks. “A number of people who operate in those other services previously worked in planning, some in management roles and some in project roles.”
Th e department benefi ts from monthly training workshops delivered by staff (which are open to neighbouring authorities), and its planning training extends both to elected members and to community groups. Th ese, Leslie insists, are a “two-way exchange”, with planners also learning from the closer contact with representatives and all benefi ting from improved relations.
More corporately, Leslie encourages planning staff to take the council’s wider leadership
Source: The Planner Careers Survey 2020
development programme. “Th at’s about developing some of the softer skills but also some of the key management skills that they and we will require in the future and now,” he explains. “We are quite focused on leadership and there’s a benefi t in learning from perspectives from other services within the authority.”
It’s a similar story at AECOM, also an RTPI learning partner, where associate director David Carlisle tells us the company provides a blend of formal and informal learning for planning staff . Th e package includes: • monthly APC surgeries for graduate planners taking the RTPI’s licentiate or associate routes; • multidisciplinary graduate programme and ‘AECOM University’ (online learning modules); • a requirement for all staff to do 50 hours of CPD every two years; • a mentoring scheme; • lunchtime planning sessions (with a technical focus) and ‘Th ird Th ursday Club’, which welcomes external speakers.
“Th is year (2020) we’re launching a ‘training wallet’,” says Carlisle. “Th is is a set budget for each individual to spend on their own CPD events. Or you can pool it with others – last year some of us went on a study trip to Stockholm.”
He continues: “Everyone has to prepare a professional development plan, which gives you a lot of freedom to choose CPD events [to support your plan]. But this has to link back to your goals.”
Th en there are the wider opportunities that come from working for a multidisciplinary organisation. “Planning is a relatively small part of the whole business,” Carlisle explains. “Depending on what your interest is – development management, sustainability, transport – you have a fair amount of latitude to follow your interests and
cultivate opportunities.”
He is realistic about the fact that his current employer is better resourced than most public sector organisations and sympathises with the situations described by some respondents to our survey.
“I joined as an assistant planner before the recession and then went through about three reorganisations. I’ve got a mixed story: on the one hand Croydon and TfL paid for a masters in the early years. But in the later years it was more challenging to fulfi l the required CPD and get training funded. Th ere seems to be a greater onus on individuals in the public sector to seek out evening events to supplement free training opportunities from the likes of PAS, Urban Design London and online resources such as RTPI Learn.”
Low-cost learning
Both Edinburgh and AECOM benefi t from their scale to deliver structured, organisation-wide career development and training. What about smaller organisations and those with greater resource constraints?
Our survey hinted at some strains at smaller employers, with one private sector planner from an independent consultancy in the South East commenting: “Insuffi cient opportunities to attend external training and masterclasses which could give me valuable skills and make my job easier and therefore progress faster. I feel everything I do is self-taught, which is good in some ways, but not the most effi cient method of training.”
On the other hand, some private sector planners at larger multidisciplinary consultancies felt that planning was undervalued in the context of a big
M O R E I N F O
Read about the RTPI’s career development support: bit.ly/planner0220- EducCareers
>> HOW DO YOU PREFER TRAINING TO BE DELIVERED? PLEASE RANK IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE (GRAPHIC SHOWS FIRST CHOICE ONLY)
fi rm where the bulk of revenue tends to come from other disciplines.
It’s not easy to get it right, although the RTPI’s learning partners illustrate that good practice need not be limited by the size or structure of the organisation. As outlined on pages 24-27, HTA Design, which employs just eight planners, hosts talks, organises study tours and supports independent research.
Close points out that the RTPI provides free and low-cost learning tools for individuals and employers. Th ese include the online RTPI Learn, which delivers ‘bite-sized’ chunks of training, and local and national events. Th e institute also supports a number of specialist networks where members can exchange knowledge, and manages a CPD framework to guide members through their professional development.
“Individuals do need to take ownership and responsibility for their own personal development, although we also expect employers, as part of a duty of care and talent development, to encourage and support them – especially as legislation and processes keep changing,” says Close.
He also highlights the positives of the survey, citing the respondent who is an apprentice at a mid-sized district council that has taken advantage of government cash to fund the position. Close is impressed, too, by the number of employers that provide mentoring programmes to their staff .
Overall, it’s a mixed picture, with plenty of evidence of strong training and development practice. But there are signs, too, of the growing toll that dwindling resources is taking on the public sector – a lower percentage of respondents in this year’s survey reported happiness with opportunities for development than last year’s. We will be keeping an eye on this trend from year to year.
n Simon Wicks is deputy editor of Th e Planner
Source: The Planner Careers Survey 2020
External courses 47%
In-house training courses provided by your employer 17%
Technical planning skills 13%
Online 10%
Seminars 7%
Workshops 7%
Independent study 2%
Making moves
Why Orkney is a great place to be a planner in 2020
Perched 10 miles beyond the northern edge of the British mainland, Orkney is the best place to live in the UK according to the 2019 Halifax Quality of Life Survey. The islands are famed for their spectacular landscapes and archaeological treasures. But what sealed the top spot is the quality of life enjoyed by Orcadians: our 20 inhabited islands have a thriving, diverse community with high employment levels, low crime rates, excellent educational and recreational facilities, and good health and happiness scores.
Orkney also has a strong cultural life built on thousands of years of history. Some 5,000 years ago, the prehistoric people of the Orkney Islands began building extraordinary monuments out of stone. There was a fl ourishing culture on the islands recognised in Orkney’s worldfamous Neolithic structures – Skara Brae, Maeshowe, Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar achieving UNESCO World Heritage status.
Such enterprise and resourcefulness continues today as the archipelago leads the UK’s drive toward a low-carbon renewable future. We’re home to the world-leading European Marine Energy Centre, as well as a growing centre of excellence based at the Orkney Research and Innovation Campus. Having pioneered the generation of hydrogen from tidal power, plans are under way to use hydrogen for a new generation of ferries serving the islands.
Though the smallest local authority in Scotland, serving a population of just 22,000, Orkney Islands Council endeavours to ensure its citizens have access to high-quality services – including planning. Orkney’s is a leading planning service, recognised through multiple awards in recent years. In 2017, we were the overall winner of the Scottish Award for Quality in Planning ; in 2018, we won the RTPI’s Silver Jubilee Cup for the regeneration of the historic coastal town of Stromness.
Scapa, one of Orkney's most popular beaches, is spectacular at sunset
Tourists at the entrance to St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall
Work with us Why work here – aside from being part of an award-winning team in a wonderful environment? This is an exciting time for the planning profession in Scotland, with implementation of the 2019 Planning Act expected to transform practice in planning over the next two years, not to mention the forthcoming fourth National Planning Framework. In addition, as a small planning team all staff members get exposure to a broad range of planning issues which are critical to the development of the county. This provides staff with a wider breadth of work experience than most local authorities can provide.
Not only is the Planning Service involved in terrestrial planning, it has now taken on
Th e award-winning Stromness Primary School, part of a £58 million schools investment programme
duties associated with marine planning, providing an additional opportunity for the service to develop its expertise.
With good transport links to the Scottish mainland – daily ferry sailings to the mainland and daily fl ights to the main Scottish cities with subsidised fares for island residents – Orkney is a lot closer and more accessible than you think.
Make the move!
