"Are you planning a 50 Shades on the local authority staffing crisis?"
Sam Stafford usually likes it when people get in touch with him to suggest topics for 50 Shades episodes, but found this message from a team leader at a local authority striking and sobering.
In a subsequent conversation this person confided in Sam that their team is virtually in crisis mode.
It is probably fair to say that the planning system is in crisis, but then it is also probably fair to say that the planning system is always in crisis…
There is, of course, the issue of resources. Whilst according to a Planning magazine survey slightly more LPAs are predicting growth in planning department budgets (25%) rather than a contraction (22%), this has to be seen in the context of a 38% real-terms fall in net current expenditure on planning functions between 2010–11 and 2017–18.
Beyond resources though the current crisis feels more like an existential crisis of confidence. Catriona Riddell has written in Planning Magazine about low morale in local planning authorities, citing hostility towards planners and the planning system from what can feel like every quarter.
That low morale is manifesting itself in the ability of LPAs to attract and retain staff. “The biggest headaches surround securing the services of more experienced planners with 10 to 15 years under their belt”, said one head of service to Planning magazine. “There is only so long that vacancies can remain unfilled without a severe knock-on consequences for the delivery of services”.
This then is a 'Call for Evidence' to inform an episode that Sam is planning on the local authority staffing crisis with Catriona Riddell, Peter Geraghty and Paul Brocklehurst. What is life actually like on the front line? Are you a junior officer sat at home physically and operationally distant from your line manager, drowning in files that you have absolutely no chance of dealing with on your own? Are you a planning consultant being pushed by your client to get a scheme to committee being told by a senior officer that they’re already writing one report this month and couldn’t possible write two? Are you a Head of Service desperately trying to find somebody, anybody to help wade through tens of thousands of objections to your local plan consultation? Do you know people that have left the profession altogether? You might be considering that too? What would make you reconsider?
If you have any thoughts that you would like to share, either anonymously or publicly, please email Sam, if you can before the end of December, at [email protected]. All responses will be posted on the 50 Shades blog.
How widespread is the local authority staffing crisis and what can be done about it?
Some accompanying reading.
Planning Magazine's Town Hall Resources Survey
Catriona's Planning Magazine piece on LPA morale
50 Shades T-Shirts!
If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...
'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.
Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html
50 Shades of Planning
50 Shades of Planning is Sam Stafford’s attempt to explore the foibles of the English planning system and it's aim is to cover the breadth of the sector both in terms of topics of conversation and in terms of guests with different experiences and perspectives.
50 Shades episodes include 'Hitting The High Notes', which are a series of conversations with leading planning and property figures. The conversations take in the six milestone planning permissions or projects within a contributor’s career and for every project guests are invited to choose a piece of music that they were listening to at that time. Think Desert Island Discs, but for planners.
50 Shades episode also include the 'All Around the World' series, which is being led by friend of the podcast, Paul Smith.
Paul put it to Sam that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely on the planning system in England. Planners here very seldom look to other countries for inspiration and ideas. Paul wanted to remedy that and so in this series he chats with planning professionals and academics from a number of countries to find out what works well there, what works less well, and what can be learnt.
Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram, and his blogs can be found here (from where you can also sign up for his newsletter).
The 50 Shades platforms are expressions of Sam's personal opinions, which may or may not represent the opinions of his past, present or future employers.
50 Shades of Planning is by planners and for planners and so if you would like to use the podcast or the YouTube channel for sharing anything you think that the sector needs to be talking about then do please feel free to get in touch with Sam via [email protected].
Why Fifty Shades? Well, town and country planning is very much not a black and white endeavour. There are at least fifty shades in between....
