The 50 Shades of Planning Blog

Long-serving (long-suffering?) readers of the blog and listeners to the podcast will recall that back in December 2021 I published the first Life on the Front blog , which informed episode 60 of the podcast a short time afterwards. I revisited the theme with a second blog and podcast a year later. The basis of the initial exercise was, at the prompting of a listener, to explore the LPA staffing crisis and, in 'taking the temperature' of the profession, it certainly struck a nerve. That first blog, as of just now, has been viewed 19,453 times, which is much, much more than my typical wittering. Now seems like a good time to revisit what life is like on planning's front line for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the Government has been in power for a year now and so it is legitimate to ask whether the wave of optimism that immediately followed the election was justified. You might remember that very early on in his ministerial tenure Matthew Pennycook wrote to the RTPI statin...

Podcast episode 144 is available now via this link or from iTunes and Spotify  and it sees the welcome return of the Hitting The High Notes series. If you have not listened to one of these before the basic proposition is that I chat to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that we can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career I also ask my guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent (nee rip off) of Desert Island Discs. Unlike Desert Island Discs though you will not, I am afraid, hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land me in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with You Tube videos an...

Is this fair or is it just a seasoned blogger’s cynical attempt at generating interest in an otherwise fairly dry attempt at summarising the most recent round of planning reform announcements? Who is to say, but this is my attempt at a summary of the build out, site threshold, planning committee and BNG proposals, synthesised with what I humbly contend the key elements of them to be. Just to recap… 25 May (bash the big builders) ‘Get on and Build' Deputy Prime Minister urges housebuilders ​​ ​​​Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out ​​ - GOV.UK ​ ​Technical consultation on implementing measures to improve Build Out transparency​ - GOV.UK 28 May (support the small ones) Government backs SME builders to get Britain building - GOV.UK Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds - GOV.UK Reform of planning committees: technical consultation - GOV.UK Improving the implementation of biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield develop...

Whatever it is that you do your working life will most likely have a rhythm to it. A senior planning officer, for example, might have their week influenced by the monthly committee cycle.  A senior planning consultant, for further example, might have their week influenced by the monthly fee forecast. My working week is typically influenced by what I get the most emails about, which  does ebb and flow over time.  The frequency and concentration of emails affords the opportunity to sniff out the ‘live issues’ affecting the development industry at any given point in time. I have further taken to categorising these live issues into a 'Top 3', 'Top 5' and 'Top 10' so that if, for example, civil servants get 15 minutes with the Minister on a Monday morning they might be encouraged to bring three things to his attention; if they get 30 minutes, five things; if they get an hour, well you get the gist... As of right now my inbox is mostly occupied by the ability of buil...

Introduction By common consensus there will a considerable increase in the submission of planning applications this year, certainly applications for residential development and certainly driven by applications on the Grey Belt. Data published by the LPDF in February suggested a 160% increase in the number of planning applications to be submitted by it’s members between January and June 2025 compared to the number submitted between July and December 2024. Since then evidence for the uptick has largely been anecdotal. I have certainly heard from several builders and promoters of an intention to make 4, 5 or 6 times more planning applications from strategic land portfolios this year than in recent years. Empirical evidence is though also now starting to emerge. MHCLG data published last month reveals that between January and March English LPAs received 6% more planning applications than the same quarter last year, bucking a stark downward trend since 2021 (some of this may though be due...

Amongst very many things of interest in Savills’ recent ‘ Spotlight on Planning 2025 ’, this section will be of particular interest to anybody promoting land through a local plan that is either at or is heading towards examination. When the new NPPF was introduced in late December 2024, local authorities (LAs) could, under certain conditions, take advantage of a transition period which allowed them to progress emerging Local Plans under the previous framework. Faced with an average increase in housing targets of c.80% under the revised standard method, many LPAs had a significant incentive to accelerate the process. By the time the 12th March deadline arrived, 47 LPAs had submitted plans for examination under the previous version of the NPPF, and a further 23 had published Regulation 19 plans, suggesting many authorities were indeed keen to take advantage of the arrangements. Those publishing Regulation 19 plans would be allowed to progress their emerging plans if their emerging housin...