This is the second of Sam Stafford's seasonal offerings which serve as a review of another exciting year in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning.
Once again Zack Simons kindly bestowed upon Sam the honour of announcing Zack's 2025 #Planoraks Awards on the podcast.
Sam met Zack at Soho Radio Studios where and he handed him six golden envelopes, which you will hear opened during their conversation.
They contain the winners of the following awards:
- Policy of the Year;
- Missed opportunity of the year;
- Catastrophe of the Year;
- Delay of the Year;
- Stat of the Year; and
- Consent of the Year.
Some accompanying reading.
The #Planoraks 2025 - the new NPPF
The Proposed London Housing Emergency Measures Package Is Underwhelming
Grey Belt â A Game Changer for Planning and Housing
Some accompanying viewing.
Some accompanying listening.
The Black Keys â Year in Review
Any other business.
If you enjoy the episode do please consider bolstering Sam's fragile self-esteem by leaving the podcast a nice rating and a nice review wherever you listened to it. Obviously though if you have not enjoyed it then please do not leave a review.
If you have enjoyed to the extent that you feel compelled to share the podcast on one your social platforms then, if you tag Sam, you will be entitled to an exclusive and much-sought after 50 Shades of Planning mug.
If you are a new listener do please check out the back catalogue where you will find episodes on myriad planning topics, as well as the Hitting The High Notes and All Around the World series, and remember that by subscribing new episodes will magically appear in your phone as soon as Sam has published them.
50 Shades of Planning is the podcast by planners and for planners and so if you would like to use it as a platform for sharing anything you think that the sector needs to be talking about then you are very welcome to get in touch with Sam via [email protected].
Sam is grateful to Richborough, Town Legal and Tyler Grange for supporting the podcast; to Vistry for sponsoring the 50 Shades mugs; to Adrian Meehan and Soho Radio Studies for recording this episode: and to Rachael Cooper at ViralTribe for editing it.
Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.
50 Shades of Planning
50 Shades of Planning is Sam Staffordâs 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 contributorâs 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....
