Episodes
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Back in March 2024 friend of the podcast Catriona Riddell gave a lecture at UCL’s Bartlett School of Planning that she called ‘Strategic Planning in England - Where did we go so wrong?’.
Sam Stafford couldn’t be there that night, but Catriona shared her slides on LinkedIn and they read to Sam almost like a ‘Brief History of Planning 2010-2024’, which he thought a good subject for an episode.
As well as Catriona, who was Director of Planning at the South East England Regional Assembly when the Coalition Government came to power in 2010, Sam approached another friend of podcast, Steve Quartermain, Chief Planner between 2008 and 2020, who was also keen to be involved. Sam felt though that a political perspective on things was also needed so he approached Greg Clark.
Greg was appointed Director of Policy for the Conservative Party in 2001 before being elected as MP for Royal Tunbridge Wells in 2005. He has held a number of senior Government roles, including, and of most relevance to planners, Minister for Decentralisation and Cities within the Department for Communities and Local Government between May 2010 and September 2012 and Secretary of State for CLG between May 2015 and July 2016. Greg was also briefly Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities between July 2022 and September 2022.
Greg, pleasingly, was also keen to be involved, and the four of them finally got together at Soho Radio Studios in early October 2024.
There were many, many topics of possible conversation in Sam's notes for the recording. They did not actually get to the latter part of the 2010-2024 period, so they did not get to, for example, the Standard Method, the 2020 White Paper, and the Theresa Villiers / LURB amendments brouhaha, but that was because they ended up dwelling on arguably the big three topics of that 2010-2024 period, which are the revocation of the Regional Strategies, Localism and the NPPF. They did also touch, right at the end of the conversation, on permitted development rights.
Standby for insights into what Eric Pickles had DCLG staff do on his first day at the Department, the amount of thought that was given to what would replace the RSSs (spoiler alert, not much…) and how the NPPF came into being…
Some accompanying reading.
Has the localism genie been put back in the bottle?
https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/09/has-localism-genie-been-put-back-in.html
Some accompanying viewing.
Catriona’s Bartlett School of Planning lecture - Strategic planning in England: where did we go so wrong?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D2xXMwVNrk
Jerry’s Final Thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7h0mIy6Jho
Some accompanying listening.
The Wheel – Bill Callahan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPjxq2-j6xY
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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Saturday 12 October 2024 marks 100 days of the new Labour Government.
In anticipation of this milestone Landmark Chambers and Town Legal hosted a seminar in London this week to provide an in-depth review of Labour's first 100 days in power and the impact on planning law and policy.
The session was recorded so that Sam Stafford could share it by way of the 50 Shades podcast and planners will be glad that it was recorded because it contains analysis and insight of the highest order. This episode includes:
Rupert Warren talking about the NPPF, local plans and housing;Meeta Kaur talking about new towns;Russell Harris talking about London;Simon Ricketts talking about infrastructure and commercial development; andIsabella Buono talking about Grey Belt and affordable housing.Some accompanying reading.
https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/resources/100-days-of-labour-a-planning-law-and-policy-perspective-full-presentation
Some accompanying listening.
All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvLGOE-_Qk
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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Missing episodes?
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Last week, on NPPF deadline day, Sam Stafford was in Manchester and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Katie Wray, David Diggle, Greg Dickson, Mark Parkinson and Claire Petricca-Riding at the studios of Reform Radio.
Conscious that the podcast has covered the revised NPPF in episodes 128 and 131, they talked about some of the other current hot planning topics. They talked about brownfield passports and why existing tools in the box are not being used already; they talked about the Labour Party Conference, which led on to conversation about a Plan for England; and they talked about what the New Towns Taskforce would need to do to meaningfully advance that agenda. And then they talked a bit more towards to the end about brownfield passports again.
They did try not to mention the NPPF, but, as you will hear, were unsuccessful in so doing...
Some accompanying reading.
Planning Reform Working Paper: Brownfield Passport
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-reform-working-paper-brownfield-passport
The New Towns Taskforce
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-new-towns-taskforce
Brownfield urban regeneration: how to deliver more growth, homes and jobs with the support of communities
https://www.britishland.com/news/brownfield-urban-regeneration-how-to-deliver-more-growth-homes-and-jobs-with-the-support-of-communities/
Brownfield Passports: building on old foundations?
https://www.irwinmitchell.com/news-and-insights/expert-comment/post/102jjwb/brownfield-passports-building-on-old-foundations
Brownfield Passports…To What? When? How?
https://simonicity.com/2024/09/28/brownfield-passportsto-what-when-how/
Design codes will help fill our cities with the missing middle
https://www.pricedout.org.uk/design-codes-will-help-fill-our-cities-with-the-missing-middle/
Some accompanying listening.
A Shared Sense Of Purpose - Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMhN3pWyBR0
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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"‘The moment has come’: pro-building Labour YIMBYs are set to raise the roof" was the title of a piece in the Observer ahead of the Labour Party Conference (link below).
For many of the most ambitious of the new cohort of Labour MPs, this is the fashionable campaign of the moment, not for economic growth but as a social justice movement – and one that many of the new millennials entering parliament hope to stake their careers on.
Inside Labour it is not a left-right divide, but some of its champions are prepared for it to mean internal party conflict between those who are radicalised on the housing crisis, and more nervous colleagues in rural or suburban seats won for the first time by Labour who might be tempted to retreat into nimbyism on local issues as a way of trying to keep their seats.
The point about first time Labour MPs retreating into NIMBYism is interesting in the context of the proposed changes to the standard method that is currently being consulted upon, but it was the point about YIMBYism not being a left-right divide inside Labour that Sam Stafford found most interesting because of a piece in the New Statesman back in April called ‘Not all YIMBYs are your friends - the pro-housing coalition is less united than it seems’ (link also below).
As it so happens, Sam approached the people quoted in the New Statesmen piece about recording a chat about the politics of housing and met four of them recently to do just that.
The four are John Myers, co-founder of the YIMBY Alliance; Robert Colville, columnist and Director of the Centre for Policy Studies; Jonn Elledge, journalist, author and fan of local government reorganisation; and Aydin Dikerdem, Cabinet Member for housing on the London Borough of Wandsworth.
They were going to talk about whether Kier Starmer’s self-declaration as a YIMBY marks the movements arrival into the political mainstream; whether the ends, more housing, is more important than the means; and who should get a say over what goes where and why. Some of that they did, but the remainder of the conversation, as Listeners will hear, goes off in all kinds of directions.
Some accompanying reading.
‘The moment has come’: pro-building Labour YIMBYs are set to raise the roof
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/15/the-moment-has-come-pro-building-labour-yimbys-are-set-to-raise-the-roof
Not all YIMBYs are your friends
https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/04/no-not-every-yimby-your-mate-housing
All hail the ‘MIMBYs’: the open-minded voters who might just save Labour’s housing plans
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/05/labour-housing-plans-keir-starmer-houses
By Sam: YIMBYs and NIMBYs. Is planning becoming a new front in the culture war?
https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/06/yimbys-versus-nimbys-is-planning-new.html
By Aydin: The sky pool is a symbol of a greater housing scandal
https://www.huckmag.com/article/the-sky-pool-is-a-symbol-of-a-greater-housing-scandal
By Robert: The (not so) green belt — and why we should build on it (£)
https://www.thetimes.com/article/c7049594-3836-4563-ae4e-caa27eb5409e?shareToken=631cd93bdff30c14ac98a86bd21b483b
Some accompanying listening.
The In Crowd – Dobie Gray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOWO--z1S8A
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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If you have listened to episodes 125 and 128 you will know Sam Stafford sought to cover, pre-publication, what could and should be in the new version of NPPF. With the consultation deadline now starting to loom large, this episode seeks to cover what is actually in it.
Sam was in London earlier this week and caught up with friends of the podcast Andrew Taylor, Hashi Mohamed, Vicky Payne and Simon Ricketts at Soho Radio Studios.
They will need no introduction to regular listeners, but for new listeners, Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry, Hashi is a Barrister at Landmark Chambers; Vicky is an Associate at Jas Bhalla Works and an Independent Consultant; and Simon is a Partner at Town Legal.
As you will hear over the next 45 minutes or so they crammed in as much as possible. They talked about the proposed new stock-based standard method and transitional arrangements for local plans, they talked about Grey Belt, 50% affordable housing and benchmark land values; and they touched on beauty, design codes, vision-led transport planning, the flood risk sequential test, neighbourhood plans, safeguarded land, and application fees.
Some accompanying reading.
Lichfields’ NPPF resource
https://lichfields.uk/proposed-reforms-to-the-nppf-and-other-changes-to-the-planning-system?email
Simon’s blog
https://simonicity.com/2024/08/02/50-shades-of-grey-belt/
Zack Simons' blog
https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/planningreformday-2024-what-just-happened
Vicky on Design
https://www.theplanner.co.uk/2024/08/01/more-substance-style-new-nppfs-design-outlook
Philip Barnes on BLV
https://philipbarnesblog.wordpress.com/2024/08/28/green-belt-vs-grey-belt-vs-benchmark-land-values-vs-50-affordable-housing/
Create Streets - Stepping off the Road to Nowhere
https://www.createstreets.com/projects/stepping-off-the-road-to-nowhere/
Some accompanying listening.
The Masterplan - Oasis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPPi2D6GK7A
Some accompanying viewing.
Alam Partridge’s big plate
https://youtu.be/swJFOE49LRQ?si=bmR85Y7USmizHBef
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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In Hitting the High Notes episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that Listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs.
Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below.
Sam's guest for this episode is Mike Best who many planners, especially in the West Midlands, will know from his twenty years at Turley.
Their conversation was recorded at Birmingham Podcast Studios in July 2024 and takes in Mike's early career in Local Government at Rotherham and Coventry and his move into consultancy with Jones Lang Wootton as was. Taking in retail parks, racecourses and regeneration, the projects that Mike talks Sam through highlight the breadth of the planning profession.
Some accompanying listening.
Mike’s Spotify playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3U6RUbhmrcUOzqBe7NvF6F?si=L-6LiPRWQ2m1zwgoIgiyCw&pi=e-3vODKymtRKed&nd=1&dlsi=df762b96aa044203
Ignoreland – REM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03gauuHIgME
A Design for Life – Manic Street Preachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ
Limelight – Rush
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgj2br-teu4
The Whole of the Moon – Waterboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBW8Vnp8BzU
Twice If You’re Lucky – Crowded House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcKh-VeFxX0
Inner City Life – Goldie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts
Some accompanying reading
Mike’s Blog
https://mikesbestlaidplans.wordpress.com/
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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To rebuild or to retrofit? That is the question posed by former Secretary of State Michael Gove’s intervention in planning applications for the redevelopment of M&S’ Oxford Street store and the former Museum of London building.
According to the Climate Change Committee, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from buildings account for 23% of the UK total.
How can we create energy-efficient, carbon neutral and climate resilient new buildings and what is needed to accelerate the decarbonisation of existing buildings?
The greenest building, so it is said, is the building that already exists and a ‘retrofit fit first, not retrofit only’ position appears to be emerging as the default, but this involves understanding which development options would have the lowest embodied carbon intensity and operational carbon emissions. Who is measuring what and how?
Friend of the podcast Katie Wray kindly convened a group of experts in this field to tackle these questions in a conversation recorded online in April 2024. Katie, Director in Real Assets Advisory team at Deloitte, spoke to Iain Shaw, Mike Keaveney and Alex Edwards. Iain is a Director at Max Fordham, Mike is a Land & Development Director at Grainger; and Alex is ESG Director at Bruntwood SciTech.
They talk about where the drivers for change in this area are coming from, how decisions around rebuild and retrofit are arrived at, and the concept of ‘value for carbon’.
Some accompanying reading.
Retrofit First: The City of London, Camden, now Westminster- who will be next?
https://lichfields.uk/blog/2024/april/02/retrofit-first-the-city-camden-now-westminster-who-will-be-next/
UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard
Home | UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (nzcbuildings.co.uk)
Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation Historic England Advice Note DRAFT
Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation - draft for consultation (historicengland.org.uk)
City of London Corporation’s heritage building retrofit toolkit
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/assets/Services-Environment/Heritage-Buildings-Retrofit-Toolkit.pdf
Retrofit and Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings
https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/technical-advice/retrofit-and-energy-efficiency-in-historic-buildings/#:~:text=We%20use%20the%20term%20retrofit,and%20use%20of%20the%20building
Manchester Climate Change Framework (see section on retrofit)
MANCHESTER CLIMATE CHANGE FRAMEWORK(2020-25) | 2022 UPDATE (squarespace.com)
Some accompanying listening.
Build It Up, Tear It Down by Fatboy Slim
https://youtu.be/bxHjytBY7Z8?si=k0dTMcz8CO8Im-bg
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog.
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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Sam Stafford has mentioned previously that the podcast would consider the new Government’s reform agenda and this is an attempt at doing so. The specifics of the NPPF consultation will be covered in more depth in due course, but what Listeners will hear in this jam-packed extravaganza of an episode is an exploration of that reform agenda in it’s broader sense.
In anticipation of the NPPF, Sam invited some of the Shades alumni to discuss some of the policy areas of most interest to them and how the new Government could and should approach them.
The voices that Listeners will hear belong to Vicky Payne, Hana Loftus, Ben Castell, Andrew Taylor, Pooja Agrawal, Claire Petricca-Riding, David Diggle, Nicola Gooch, Shelly Rouse, Gilan Macinnes, Ian Wray, Paul Smith, Mike Kiely, Simon Ricketts and Annie Gingell.
Listeners will hear:
Vicky, Hana, Ben, Andrew and Pooja talk about design and placemaking (05:23);Claire, David and Nicola talk about planning for infrastructure and the environment (20:02);Shelly, Gilan and Pooja talk about LPA capacity (26:32);Ian, Paul, Mike and Nicola talk about Grey Belt (38:38);Ian, Paul and Vicky talk about New Towns (50:34);Paul, Shelly and Andrew talk about devolution and ‘greater than local’ planning (01:02:03);Nicola, Andrew, Gilian and Simon talk about land value capture (01:15:32); andPaul, Annie, Shelly and Andrew talk housing targets (01:27:36).This episode only features parts of those eight conversations. Listen to the end to find out how and where to listen to all eight conversations in full in due course.
Some accompanying reading.
#PlanningReformDay 2024 - what just happened?
https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/planningreformday-2024-what-just-happened
Letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Defra Secretary of State to environmental NGOs on planning and infrastructure bill
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-deputy-prime-minister-and-defra-secretary-of-state-to-environmental-ngos-on-planning-and-infrastructure-bill
Pathways to Planning
https://www.local.gov.uk/pathways-to-planning
The Green Belt. What it is and why; what it isn't; and what it should be
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-green-belt-what-it-is-why-it-is.html
Policy statement on new towns
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/policy-statement-on-new-towns/policy-statement-on-new-towns
Letter from the Deputy Prime Minister to local leaders: the next steps to devolution
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-the-deputy-prime-minister-to-local-leaders-the-next-steps-to-devolution/letter-from-the-deputy-prime-minister-to-local-leaders-the-next-steps-to-devolution
Land value capture back in focus
https://philipbarnesblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/12/land-value-capture-back-in-fashion/
Where next for the substandard method of assessing housing need?
https://www.turley.co.uk/comment/housebuilding-assessment-targets-housing-stock-approach
Some accompanying viewing.
https://www.youtube.com/@FiftyShadesofPlanning
Some accompanying listening.
Labour of Love – Hue & Cry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYZ6q7Wr9c
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog.
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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Long-serving Listeners might recall that for Episode 6 of 50 Shades of Planning Sam Stafford published a chat with Euan Mills, then of the Connected Places Catapult, on the potential for digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design to improve the planning system.
Euan, now CEO and co-founder of Blocktype, got in touch with Sam Stafford earlier this year and asked if he could put together an episode on the progress that has been made over the past five years towards this aim.
This was both a kind invitation and a coincidental one because at around the same time the Spring Budget Statement included reference to “piloting the use of AI solutions to support planning authorities to streamline their local plan development processes, producing plans in 30 months rather than the current average of seven years. This builds on work to date which has already reduced planning officer processing times by up to 30% per application.”
This episode features four conversations that Euan recorded back in March with four people both very knowledgeable and very active in this space. They are Alistair Parvin, CEO of Open Systems Lab; Dr Sue Chadwick, Strategic & Digital Planning Advisor at Pinsent Masons; Matt Wood-Hill, Head of Digital Planning Software at MHCLG; and Paul Downey, Planning Data Service Owner at MHLCG.
During the course of this episode Listeners will learn a lot about how digital innovation, urban data, and user-centred design are improving the UK planning system.
Some accompanying reading.
Blocktype
blocktype.co.uk
Plan X
planx.uk
Planning Data
Planning.data.gov.uk
Open Digital Planning
opendigitalplanning.org
The Future of Planning - How we can rewire the planning system for the digital age
https://medium.com/@alastairparvin/the-future-of-planning-8a1f93e17ae1
Some accompanying listening.
Digital – Goldie (feat. KRS One) (Armand Van Helden Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dgKcpgKxs
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. You can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shades Blog.
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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One of the new Labour Government’s manifesto pledges is the construction of 1.5 million new homes between now and the end of this new parliament.
“We will ensure local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area, but where necessary Labour will not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need”, the manifesto states, which strikes a markedly different tone to the emphatically localist one adopted by the Conservatives upon entering office back in 2010.
So different in fact that according to the Daily Express recently “campaigners have demanded an apology from Sir Keir Starmer for treating nature and communities with “disdain” through his approach to housing policies and energy infrastructure.”
Now seemed like a good time then for Sam Stafford to publish a conversation between old friends of the podcast Andrew Taylor, Catriona Riddell and Paul Miner, and new friends of the podcast Jonathan Werran, Andy von Bradsky and Anna Clarke. This conversation, which is lead by Andrew and recorded online in April 2024 is about an essay collection compiled by Localis called ‘Building by consent – housing by popular demand’.
Localis, of which Jonathan is Chief Executive, asked a wide range of policy experts, local government leaders and industry bodies, to sketch their plan for what a successful planning system that generates community support for development might look like. Andrew, Catriona, Paul, Andy and Anna all provided contributions..
Some accompanying reading.
Labour’s planning proposals
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/04/labours-planning-proposals.html
A new dawn has broken, has it not?
https://lichfields.uk/blog/2024/july/05/a-new-dawn-has-broken-has-it-not
Sir Keir Starmer accused of 'making enemies' of voters as campaigners demand apology
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1912206/keir-starmer-housing-nature-communities
Building Communities
https://www.localis.org.uk/research/building-communities/
Building Consent
https://localis.org.uk/research/building-consent/
Long-Term National Housing Strategy
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2024-02-29/debates/48BADB17-4BC5-4D4A-81A9-6E80B85533AF/Long-TermNationalHousingStrategy#contribution-F4869BBB-7ECD-49E2-9E36-7AEA3060249D
Neighbourhood Planning Design Coding Guidance
https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/neighbourhood-planning-design-coding-guidance/
Independent review of build out: final report
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-build-out-final-report
Start to Finish 3
https://lichfields.uk/content/insights/start-to-finish-3
Streamlining planning to build more homes
https://housingforum.org.uk/reports/key-publications/streamlining-planning-to-build-more-homes/
Some accompanying listening.
Wind of Change - Scorpions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
50 Shades T-Shirts & Newsletter
If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here and you can also sign up for the 50 Shades Newsletter via the 50 Shaded Blog.
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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With a General Election now imminent Sam Stafford thought that it might be interesting to try to compare what is being offered by the main political parties in relation to housing, planning and development with what the housing, planning and development sector would like to see being offered.
In a conversation recorded at Outset Studios in Shoreditch Sam speaks to new friends of the podcast Richard Blyth, Tony Mulhall, Marie Chadwick and Ian Fletcher, and old friend of the podcast Paul Brocklehurst, about the policy proposals that their respective organisations are promulgating.
Richard is Head of Policy & Practice at the RTPI; Tony is a Senior Specialist at RICS; Marie is Policy Leader at the NHF; Paul is Chair of the LPDF; and Ian is Director of Real Estate Policy at the BPF.
Sam invites them all to outline their respective manifestos and then they focused on two key areas that everybody agreed need to be addressed: the need to get more resources into LPAs and the need to reintroduce strategic planning whilst at the same time getting local plans moving again.
Towards the end of the episode Sam also asks Marie about the issue of RPs not bidding for S106 sites, which is a very live one at present.
Some accompanying reading.
Blue belt, grey belt, wild belt – the manifestos compared
https://lichfields.uk/blog/2024/june/20/blue-belt-grey-belt-wild-belt-the-manifestos-compared
RICS’ Land & Rural Manifesto overview
https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-uk-general-election-land-and-rural-manifesto-review
The BPF General Election Manifesto
https://bpf.org.uk/our-work/general-election-2024/
LPDF’s 10 Point Plan for a Step Change in Delivery
https://lpdf.co.uk/latest-lpdf-publications
RTPI’s Planifesto
https://www.rtpi.org.uk/new/our-campaigns/rtpi-planifesto-2024/
Some accompanying viewing.
NHF’s campaign for a Plan for Housing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmM3WLCjcwQ
Some accompanying listening.
Manifesto by Roxy Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjkVYOArUQM
50 Shades - T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
Any other business.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford). His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
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In February 2024 Planning published a special report by Joey Gardiner entitled ‘how cost-saving consultants disrupted council planning services’.
Cash-strapped councils have been following management consultants’ advice to split up their planning teams. Staff have been put into central departments to handle additional non-planning tasks. But the upshot, say critics, has been declining performance and a staff exodus.
Joey’s piece highlighted the tumult at Tandridge, which in 2020 was formally threatened with designation over the quality of its decision-making. A subsequent PAS review of the council’s development management service, which was published in 2021, laid the blame squarely on a team structure “developed during the corporate restructure” that it said was “not fit for purpose”.
That local government has borne the brunt of the age of austerity is well known. According to the IFS, during the 2010s, councils’ overall core funding per person fell by an average of 26% in real terms, with higher council tax revenues only partially offsetting a 46% reduction in funding from central government.
Those in the sector know that planning and development has borne the brunt of that. Again according to the IFS, spending per person on planning and development fell by 58% between 2010/11 and 2019/20, which was second only to cuts to services for young people and Sure Start. Perhaps less well known, and what Joey’s article has helped to shine a light on, is the impact on planning services of the kind of whole-authority service transformations that some authorities have undertaken to in order to deal with these financial pressures.
To explore this issue further Sam Stafford invited four of the people quoted in Joey’s article to expand upon their experiences with him. They are old friends of the podcast Mike Kiely, Gilian MacInnes and Paul Barnard, and new friend of the podcast Peter Ford. In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios at the end of April 2024 they talked about the pressures that LPAs have been and are under; why the nature of planning services do not lend it to whole-authority service transformations; and the impact of such upheavals. They also talked about whether there are too planning teams and whether Chief Planning Officers could and should be at the top decision-making table.
The episode starts though with a brief conversation that Sam recorded online with Joey Gardiner recently about his special report for Planning. Sam asked Joey how he went about putting the report together; what he found most striking in so doing; and what feedback he has had on it.
Some accompanying reading.
How cost-saving consultants disrupted council planning services (£)
https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1860857/cost-saving-consultants-disrupted-council-planning-services
Tandridge District Council - DM Review
https://tandridge.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s4234/Appendix%20A%20-%20Development%20Management%20Review.pdf
Guildford Borough Council - Development Management Establishment Review
https://democracy.guildford.gov.uk/documents/s26379/Item%208%20-%20DM%20Budget%20Exec%20Report%20revised%20for%20Autumn%202022%20-%20FINAL-%20V4.pdf
How have English councils’ funding and spending changed? 2010 to 2024
https://ifs.org.uk/publications/how-have-english-councils-funding-and-spending-changed-2010-2024
Some accompanying listening.
Episode 84 of Room 106
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ep84-how-cost-saving-management-consultants-are-impacting/id1596110607?i=1000649057189
A Shared Sense Of Purpose - Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan (Vince Clarke Remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpeRnH2FLA4
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When Sam Stafford first covered nutrient neutrality, in February 2021, he described the process of eutrophication as a bit like the podcast itself: a little niche, but very important.
When Sam published a second episode in September 2022 it had grown in importance to the extent that Prime Minister Liz Truss had pledged to "scrap nutrient neutrality rules".
A Government press release issued in August 2023 stated that “through an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB), the Government will do away with this red tape and allow for the delivery of more than 100,000 new homes desperately needed by local communities."”
The LURB amendments in question were subsequently defeated, nutrient neutrality rules have not been scrapped, and 2 June 2024 marks the fifth anniversary of Natural England’s first advice note for LPAs in the Solent Region. The question that Sam posed in that second Shades episode remains just as pertinent: how far away is a satisfactory resolution in those parts of the country that have been affected?
In order to provide an updated answer to that question Sam invited old friend of the podcast Rachel Jones and new friends of the podcast Andrew Smith and Gemma Nelmes to share their experiences. Rachel is Ecology Manager at Wiltshire Council; Andrew is Head of Development Management at the Lake District National Park Authority; and Gemma is an Associate at Stantec.
Eagle-eyed Listeners may have spotted that the title of this episode is Neutral Impact III (and a bit of Green Belt). Sam has very kindly been invited by Richard Kimblin at No. 5 Chambers and Sarah Young at LUC to contribute to a Green Belt Summit that they are holding on Wednesday 3 July. It is in London, but will be available to view online as well. The three of them had a brief preparatory chat last recently about the spur for the summit and the hopes for it. That chat features in the final section of the episode.
Some accompanying reading.
100,000 more homes to be built via reform of defective EU laws
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/100000-more-homes-to-be-built-via-reform-of-defective-eu-laws?pk_campaign=newsletter_6337
Natural England and Dorset Wildlife Trust buy Lyscombe farm
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/24310589.natural-england-dorset-wildlife-trust-buy-lyscombe-farm/
Claims that developers are responsible for water pollution are a load of poo
https://capx.co/claims-that-developers-are-responsible-for-water-pollution-are-a-load-of-poo/
Is the Government backtracking on environmental protection?
https://capx.co/is-the-government-backtracking-on-environmental-protection/
PAS Nutrient Neutrality Programme
https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/topics/environment/nutrient-neutrality-and-planning-system
Natural England Framework for Wetland Mitigation Proposals
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/6543a2f8de0348f683187ff268a79687?item=4
Information on Nature Based Solutions as Nutrient Mitigation
https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6680815300509696
Natural England’s nutrient mitigation scheme for developers
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-englands-nutrient-mitigation-scheme-for-developers
CIRIA publishes new guidance on SuDS construction
https://www.ciria.org/CIRIA/News/CIRIA_news2/CIRIA_publishes_new_guidance_on_SuDS_construction.aspx
Green Belt Summit Details
https://www.no5.com/2024/05/greenbelt-summit/
Fields in Trust
https://fieldsintrust.org/
England’s nature chief calls for building on green belt to solve housing crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/18/england-nature-chief-tony-juniper-thinks-green-belt-land-solve-housing-crisis
The Green Belt. What it is and why; what it isn't; and what it should be
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-green-belt-what-it-is-why-it-is.html
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What are we to make of neighbourhood planning? Friend of the podcast Ben Castell considers it a “grassroots planning revolution”. Perhaps less favourably it conjures for others images of corduroy and tweed-clad councillors convening a parish council working group to thwart plans for an incinerator or, worse still, new housing.
With neighbourhood planning now part of the furniture, but with the current opposition and possible next Government talking about ‘taking planning up a level’, Sam Stafford thought it time for the podcast to evaluate the story of neighbouring planning so far, which is lead in this episode by the afore-mentioned Ben Castell.
Ben is Planning Director at AECOM, where he has worked with a number of neighbourhood planning groups, and has also had two stints as Chair of his local Neighbourhood Forum.
Ben convened a group of planners with nuts-and-bolts experience in this field for a conversation recorded online in April 2024.
Samantha Banks is the Neighbourhood Planning Programme Manager at Locality, which has provided the government’s Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme since 2013. Samantha previously worked as the Neighbourhood Planning Manager at Herefordshire Council, leading a team that supported over 100 town and parish councils produce neighbourhood plans.
Graeme Markland has been the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer at Thame Town Council since 2016 and before that was a technical and planning officer at Luton Borough Council and the Luton and South Bedfordshire Joint Technical Unit.
Leani Haim is a Planning Director at ONH, which provides planning and development services to town and parish councils, neighbourhood forums, landowners and developers. ONH has supported over 200 neighbourhood plan projects.
Now it is fair to say that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani are all neighbourhood planning enthusiasts and for balance, in addressing the question as to how successful the enterprise has been, a more sceptical voice was required. About two thirds of the way through then Listeners will hear from another friend of the podcast, Simon Ricketts, who fits that bill and who kindly recorded his thoughts in advance so that Ben, Samantha, Graeme and Leani could mull them over in the final section of the episode.
Some accompanying reading.
Independent research on the impacts of neighbourhood planning
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-research-on-the-impacts-of-neighbourhood-planning
Neighbourhood planning in England: A decade of institutional learning
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900623000107#bib169
Locality’s Key Neighbourhood Planning Data
https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/key-neighbourhood-planning-data/
Locality’s Toolkits and Guidance
https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and-guidance/
Neighbourhood planning areas
https://communities.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d195c3134caa46b5a638ad0c4f0cce77
Planning Practice Guidance
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning--2
Some accompanying listening
You Woke Up My Neighbourhood – Billy Bragg (Ben’s choice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnHxAxaara0
Who’s In Control? – Sea Power (Sam's choice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5Lf0IiEZt8
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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Sam Stafford was in London recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Catriona Riddell, Shelly Rouse and Nicola Gooch at Soho Radio Studios. One topic, the hot topic of the past few weeks, dominated the conversation.
“Labour pledges housebuilding drive on Grey Belt with ‘golden rules’ to boost public services, affordable homes and improve green spaces”, so announced a press release dated 19 April.
Keir Starmer has today set out five ‘golden rules’ for Grey Belt housebuilding, pledging to deliver affordable homes, boost infrastructure and public services like schools and GPs, and improve genuine green spaces.
While reiterating that Labour will always take a 'brownfield first' approach to housing development, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner are also pledging to release some land currently classed as Green Belt to build the homes Britain needs.”
On a visit to a housing development today, the pair will outline Labour’s plans to create a new class of 'Grey Belt' land to ensure grey and poor-quality parts of the Green Belt are prioritised, and that any development benefits local communities.
Plenty in there then for the gang to get their teeth in to. They discussed the practical issues associated with creating a new class of designation and how that might rub up against, for example, mandatory BNG. They also talked about how Grey Belt might interact with a mechanism for cross- boundary strategic planning, which Matthew Pennycook has said that Labour will introduce to overcome housing delivery challenges around towns and cities with tightly drawn administrative boundaries. All of that, as you will hear, led them on to local plan reform and what the next version of the NPPF looks like, as well as a remarkable statistic from Shelly on how much a local plan costs to prepare.
Some accompanying reading.
Labour’s planning proposals
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/04/labours-planning-proposals.html
The 80-year planning war over a Surrey airfield (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-80-year-planning-war-over-a-surrey-airfield-lvjb3svr7
Some accompanying viewing.
What is Grey Belt land and why does Keir Starmer want to build on it?
https://youtu.be/4OvsXqdpy4s?si=S6mfS_uL-R15v-3b
Some accompanying listening.
Darkness on the edge of town – Bruce Springsteen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8HXvt-v5v0
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Greg Dickson and Claire Petricca-Riding.
During a conversation recorded at Reform Radio they talked about another exciting few weeks in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning. They talked about RPs not bidding for Section 106 sites, they talked about the 'Accelerated Planning System' consultation, so the proposals for the new Section 73B, the ten week determination period for major commercial applications, and restrictions on the use of extension of time agreements. They talked about the Flood Risk Sequential Test and touched on the Government response to a consultation on operational reforms to the NSIP process.
Some accompanying reading.
An accelerated planning system
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/an-accelerated-planning-system-consultation/an-accelerated-planning-system
Simon Ricketts’ S73B Blog
https://simonicity.com/2024/04/01/section-73-or-section-73b/
Zack Simons' Flood Risk Sequential Test Blog
https://www.planoraks.com/posts-1/buildin-in-the-rain-flood-risk-in-the-courts
Pre-application advice and Planning Performance Agreements
https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/development-mgmt/pre-application-advice-and-planning-performance-agreements-ppas
Power & Partnership: Labour’s plan to power up Britain
https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labours-plan-to-power-up-britain/
A Westminster Hall Debate on 13 March 2024
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-03-13/debates/65995D50-E335-444C-8065-405F91548338/PlanningReform
Labour’s planning proposals
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/labours-planning-proposals.html
Some accompanying viewing.
The fine kind of rain that soaks you through - Peter Kay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk8xHtbkhR8
Can you imagine a world without lawyers? - The Simpsons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG3uea-Hvy4
Some accompanying listening
Hillside Song - My Morning Jacket
https://youtu.be/XmLiKGpSC4g?si=4TkfP6YMFgfUYfJ1
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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In Hitting the High Notes episodes Sam Stafford chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that Listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs.
Unlike Desert Island Discs you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below.
Sam's guest for this episode is Nick Kilby, founder and now Chief Executive Officer of Cratus Group, who kindly took the time to meet Sam at Soho Radio Studios in early April 2024.
Nick trained as a Stage Manager and Lighting Designer at Mountview Theatre School and worked in the early 1980s as a stage manager at the Edinburgh Festival and the National Theatre. Having produced his own shows Nick then got into cinema management, including the first Imax at the Trocadero Centre. He then got into politics and in 2006 was elected on to the Royal Borough of Kingston Council, which led to being asked about campaigning and lobbying. After being involved with the Abbey Mills ‘Mega’ Mosque at the end of the 2000s Nick then founded Cratus.
As Nick takes Sam through his six projects they talk about the keys to successful engagement and the role of the councillor in that. They talk about how consultants are only as good as the client lets them be; about what it really means to build communities; and they talk about localism and a certain Mr Eric Pickles.
Some accompanying reading.
All The Lonely People – Mike Gayle
https://www.mikegayle.co.uk/my-books/all-lonely-people
Want to build? Better hire a good lobbyist
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/want-to-build-better-hire-a-good-lobbyist-rc6gsg7qs (£)
My Favourite Building: Sam Stafford – The Piece Hall
https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/117312-prop-my-favourite-building-sam-stafford-the-piece-hall
Some accompanying viewing.
You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiW3oPv1vZc
Some accompanying listening.
McCartney: A Life in Lyrics
https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/mccartney-a-life-in-lyrics
Nick’s Spotify playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0bwjKHMaDAsodUAddsBpyr?si=0gPfuF0QTzSdwastIl-w9w&pi=e-D-xwFvBMToSz&nd=1&dlsi=dfe4a97887be4cb4
There is Power in a Union - Billy Bragg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwbzxemJZIc
We can Work it Out -The Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-0if-ca6CE
Elgar Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61: 11. Andante - Nigel Kennedy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLD0jOyTnwU
A Father Now from 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down - Original Off Broadway Cast
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nlSUmGk0G9IMZQDCW2uVCm3eZlrr8yD6U
Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuS5NuXRb5Y
Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMZvAbk1kXQ
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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The Prime Minister recently announced plans to "turbocharge" development within England's largest towns and cities to mark a Government consultation on strengthening planning policy for brownfield development.
Sam Stafford thought then that now would be a good time to share a conversation that he recorded online in August 2023 with old friends of the podcast David Milner and Rebecca Coley, and new friend of the podcast Mark Aylward, about the redevelopment of big box retail parks.
The prompt for the conversation was a 2018 report that Sam had come across by Create Streets and Policy Exchange called ‘Better Brownfield’, which claimed that there are over 1200 sites across London currently occupied by single-storey big box retail and industrial sheds and that, by ‘banishing boxland’, these sites could accommodate between 250,000 and 300,000 new homes.
Who owns and manages assets like these? What is the market like for big boxes in the new world of online retail? And what are the opportunities presented by, and the barriers to, sites like this coming forward for a mixed-use redevelopment? These are the questions that Sam invited David, Mark and Rebecca to explore with him.
Some accompanying reading.
How to house London’s surging population? Banish “boxland” – by Susan Emmett
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/41218/how-to-house-londons-surging-population-banish-boxland
Better Brownfield
https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/better-brownfield/
Five retail and leisure trends to look out for in the post-pandemic era
https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/340262/commercial-property/five-retail-and-leisure-trends-to-look-out-for-in-the-post-pandemic-era.aspx
Pipeline of data centres needs to more than double by 2025 to meet demand for storage in Europe
https://www.savills.co.uk/insight-and-opinion/savills-news/336014-0/savills--pipeline-of-data-centres-needs-to-more-than-double-by-2025-to-meet-demand-for-storage-in-europe
The London Land Challenge; The Industrial Land Market
https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/329623-0
Some accompanying listening.
Brighouse on Saturday Night – Roger Davies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PQmACfPhY4
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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This episode is a ramblechat that Sam Stafford recorded in London with friends of the podcast Hashi Mohamed, Simon Ricketts, Nicola Gooch and Andrew Taylor during which they reflected on another exciting few weeks in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning.
The conversation takes in the back-dating of Section 106 indexation and what that says about local authority finances; the need to consider PPAs, statutory consultees and performance targets in the round; BNG and Sam's debut appearance on Countryfile; the Brownfield Reform Day consultations on a presumption in favour of brownfield development, permitted development rights and the Mayor of London’s call-in powers; and the Competition & Markets Authority's report on the housebuilding industry. All in approximately 45 minutes or so.
Some accompanying reading.
Housebuilding market study final report
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housebuilding-market-study-final-report
Brownfield Reform Day
http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/02/brownfield-reform-day.html
Biodiversity Unit Finder Map
https://www.futurehomes.org.uk/biodiversityunitfindermap
Short Term Thinking
https://simonicity.com/2023/04/14/short-term-thinking/
Can Local Plan Policies Require Developers To Go Beyond National Standards?
https://simonicity.com/2024/02/24/can-local-plan-policies-require-developers-to-go-beyond-national-standards/
Some accompanying listening.
Zeitgeist by Black Sabbath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3FyNH9v7mU
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
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Building GP surgeries, schools and roads is not just difficult it is so difficult, according to no less of an expert on such matters than the Prime Minister, as to be a reason to not even contemplate growing existing towns and cities.
In introducing recent proposals to put “rocket boosters” under construction in existing built-up areas, Rishi Sunak was quoted in The Times as saying that “We need to build homes in the places where people need and want them. There’s little point trying to force large new estates on our countryside and Green Belt when that is where public resistance to development is strongest and where the GP surgeries, schools and roads don’t exist to support new communities.”
It is not uncommon though to see opinion polls from time to time highlighting that for people who are not supportive of more homes being built, building more or improving existing medical facilities would likely change their minds.
It is equally not uncommon though to see stories in the press from time to time with headlines like ‘we love our homes but we’re crying out for schools and GPs’.
Where is the line to be drawn between what applicants should reasonably be expected to provide as part of making a development acceptable in planning terms, and the access to health and education that citizens should reasonably expect their Government to provide for them?
How effective is the planning system in bringing together all of the actors and agencies that are responsible for the delivery of social infrastructure?
What are the barriers to LPAs spending what the Home Builders Federation reports to be £2.8bn in unspent S106 contributions?
These are questions that Sam Stafford explores with some old friends of the podcast and some new friends of the podcast.
The old friends are Andrew Taylor, Gilian MacInnes and Ben Woolnough. Andrew is Group Planning Director at Vistry Group; Gilian has her own consultancy and acts a trainer and interim manager in the public sector; and Ben is Planning Manager at East Suffolk Council.
The new friends are James Cutting and Isabella Buono. James is Head of Planning at Suffolk County Council and Isabella is a Barrister at Landmark Chambers.
Some accompanying reading.
Public attitudes to house building: findings from the British Social Attitudes survey 2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-attitudes-to-house-building-findings-from-the-british-social-attitudes-survey-2018
Our 'new town' with 2,500 homes and 1,000 more to come has no GP, the school is full and the closest supermarket is 25 minutes away - but we do have a nuclear fusion centre
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12392593/Our-new-town-nuclear-fusion-centre-no-GP-school-closest-supermarket-cafe-20-minute-walk-away.html
Section 106 agreements and unspent developer contributions in England and Wales report
https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/section-106-report/?pk_campaign=newsletter_6368
A taxing problem: County Councils “desperate” for CIL money to fund infrastructure
https://www.thedeveloper.live/opinion/opinion/a-taxing-problem-county-councils-desperate-for-cil-money-to-fund-infrastructure
Can You Use Section 106 To Buy Drugs (And To Fund Other Public Services)?
https://simonicity.com/2023/02/18/can-you-use-section-106-to-buy-drugs-and-to-fund-other-public-services/
Mind the Funding Gap: The curious case of s.106 contributions funding NHS services
https://imbusiness.passle.net/post/102i43y/mind-the-funding-gap-the-curious-case-of-s-106-contributions-funding-nhs-service
Some accompanying listening.
School by Nirvana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp86SkWKRQE
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