Sam Stafford was in Birmingham recently and took the opportunity whilst there to catch up with old friend of the podcast Myles Wild Smith and new friends of the podcast Mike Knott, Bart Shirm and Beth Pywell.
Myles is a Director at Lichfields, Mike is a Regional Practice Lead at Stantec, Bart is a Senior Planning Policy Officer at Sandwell and Beth is an Associate Director at Nexus.
During a good ol’-fashioned, Shades-style ramblechat, recorded at Podhaus studios in Digbeth’s Custard Factory, they talk about the NPPF's non-appearance before the parliament summer recess, local plan progress and the recent Pennycook pragmatism letter, changes to the BNG regime, Bart’s recent trip to Canada, which led them back to the reform agenda here, and towards the end, application fees.
Some accompanying reading.
Local Plan examinations: letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate (July 2026)
Biodiversity Net Gain: Amendments and transitional arrangements published
A Biodiversity Net Gain Solution for a High Value Brownfield Site
FUSION Montréal: Confident planners delivering resilient outcomes
Why NPPFs fail #1 - planning by committee
Some accompanying viewing.
Plan, Prepare, Progress: A practical guide to the new local plan system
What does Team Burnham mean for housebuilding
Some accompanying listening.
Vibes and Stuff – A Tribe Called Quest
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, but do please feel free to let Sam know why. Feedback on 50 Shades episodes is always welcome.
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.
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 also very welcome to get in touch with Sam via [email protected] or the 50 Shades WhatsApp Community.
50 Shades of Planning
50 Shades of Planning is Sam Stafford’s attempt to explore the foibles of the English planning system and its 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.
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] or the 50 Shades WhatsApp Community.
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....
