The 50 Shades of Planning Blog

Episode 155 of 50 Shades of Planning is available now via this link (or from Apple and Spotify ) and , I am pleased to say, it sees the return of the 50 Shades of Planning Festive Christmas Quiz. I got together at Soho Radio Studies last week with friends of podcast Mike Kiely, Catriona Riddell, Annie Gingell, Andrew Taylor, Nicola Gooch, Shelly Rouse, Ben Castell and Gilian Macinnes to review what has been another exciting year in the fast-paced, ever-changing, rock and roll world of town and country planning. Based upon a selection of Planning Magazine’s most-read stories (kindly provided by Richard Garlick), I tested their knowledge of some of the themes that have prevailed most strongly this year. So you will hear me asking them questions about local authority resources, Grey Belt, statutory consultees, the local plans that have run aground, planning committees, snails, and many, many other topics. And when I say many I mean many because this jam-packed, bumper edition of the qui...

Episode 154 of 50 Shades of Planning is available now via this link or from Apple and Spotify . I was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friend of the podcast Charlotte Leach and new friends of the podcast Andrew Johnston and Lisa Tye . Over the course of an hour so we chatted about a few of the hot topics exercising the planning profession at minute. We talked about ‘the next phase of planning reform’ as set out in a written ministerial statement issued by the Secretary of State last month. That takes in the “unleashing” of development around rail stations; a requirement upon local authorities to notify the Secretary of State where they intend to refuse an application for 150 or more homes; and streamlining statutory consultees. We talked about AI and it’s growing influence on the planning system, and we talked about Section 106 Agreements. We also talked about national development management policies (NDMPs), which is a topic that has featured re...