Robert Jenrick set out on 12 March 2020 proposals “to bring Britain’s planning system into the 21st century as part of plans to get the country building”. Within a week it was announced that schools were closing and local authority staff, including planning officers, have been dealing with a public health emergency.
Sam Stafford is joined in this episode by Jonathan Easton, Barrister at Kings Chambers; Anna Rose, Head of the Planning Advisory Service at the Local Government Association; and Stefan Webb, Place Director at FutureGov to discuss the impact of Coronavirus on the planning system.
Twitter handles: @samuel_stafford, @jonnye47, @EPlanna and @Stef_W.
Some links:
Planning Inspectorate Guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-planning-inspectorate-guidance
ADSO and LLG letter to MHCLG on decision-making and democracy:
https://www.adso.co.uk/letter-to-sos-covid-19-implications-for-local-authority-governance/
Greater Flexibility For Planning Permissions:
The Landmark Chambers paper:
https://cached.offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/NewsAttachments/RLP/LandmarkSOSletter.pdf
Simon Ricketts’ Blog:
https://simonicity.com/2020/03/21/what-to-do/
The Planning Advisory Service’s resource:
https://local.gov.uk/pas/pas-topics/coronavirus
The RTPI survey to inform discussions with Governments across the UK and Ireland:
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....
