At the kind invitation of Landmark Chambers and Town Legal, Sam Stafford was in London this week to contribute to a seminar on the NPPF update, which, eagle-eyed 50 Shades Listeners no doubt spotted, emerged as part of a cavalcade of Planning Reform Day announcements before Christmas.
The seminar was over-subscribed and so was recorded in order that it could be shared more widely as a podcast.
This episode features:
- Rupert Warren KC talking about the implications of the NPPF for housing delivery, taking in the standard method, the cities uplift and the changes around five and four year land supply;
- Anjoli Foster talking about the impact of the NPPF on plan-making, taking in Green Belt, transitional arrangements and the impact of this new version on plans that have paused, as well as soundness;
- Meeta Kaur talking about the NPPF changes that relate to design and beauty, small sites and community-led housing, retirement housing and agricultural land;
- Simon Ricketts talking about the linkages between the NPPF and the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act, with his observations on what provisions of the latter we make pay the closest attention to; and
- Sam talking waffle.
Some accompanying reading.
Reforms to national planning policy
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7281/reforms-to-national-planning-policy/
Reforms to national planning policy report: government response
Changes to 5YHLS under the revised NPPF: Not Great, Not Terrible
Four out of Five
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/four-out-five-josef-cannon-ugqje/
Local Plan Preparation: Barriers and Opportunities
https://www.rtpi.org.uk/policy-and-research/research/local-plan-research-project/
Planning working paper
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-working-paper
Labour’s planning proposals
https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2023/10/labours-planning-proposals.html
Labour pledges to tighten right-to-buy as part of UK housing overhaul
https://www.ft.com/content/2726620e-b6e5-4547-b358-ff4fe175171e
The Long-Term Plan for Housing II
https://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-long-term-plan-for-housing-ii.html
Some accompanying viewing.
Hashi’s appearance on Question Time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vfv6
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Happy New Years
https://youtu.be/U4rkzyGFFo0?si=2gCA8461BCnsqT7H
Some accompanying listening.
Future Love by Ride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cN0vWnVaHU
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
50 Shades of Planning
50 Shades of Planning was Sam Stafford’s attempt between April 2019 and October 2024 to explore the foibles of the English planning system and it's aim was 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.
Sam is on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford), and his blogs can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com (from where you can also sign up for his newsletter).
The 50 Shades platforms were expressions of Sam's personal opinions, which may or may not represent the opinions of his past, present or future employers.
The 50 Shades of Planning Podcast and YouTube channels were produced in partnership with Cratus Group.
Why Fifty Shades? Well, planning is not a black and white endeavour. There are at least fifty shades in between....
