The rock and roll world of town and country planning is, as you know, Readers, fast-paced and ever-changing at the best of times, but it was especially fast-paced and ever-changing in December. This is an attempt at a recap, with a few initial reflections thrown in. Planning Reform Working Paper: Planning Committees On 9 December a working paper was published on welcome proposals to modernise planning committees. The paper puts forward three reforms to “support better decision-making in the planning system”, which are: The introduction of a mandatory requirement for training for planning committee members; The creation of smaller targeted planning committees specifically for strategic development; and The introduction of a national scheme of delegation. The working paper can be found here and the MHCLG press release can be found here . When this emerged in the press under headlines such as “ property developers could bypass planning committees in bid to 'overhaul' process ” i...
Hello. My name is Sam, I am a Town Planner and I sometimes write about town planning-related things (in my own time and as an expression of my own opinions). I used to podcast, there is a link to that on this page somewhere, and I circulate a newsletter from time to time. There is a link to that somewhere as well. Should you be so inclined, I am on Bluesky (@samuelstafford.bsky.social) and Instagram (@samuel__stafford).