Call for Evidence. How many planners are chartered?

When two property professionals meet, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, their first talk is of the planning system.

When two planners meet their first talk might not be of the RTPI, but very often, I find, conversations ultimately lead in that direction.

For example, as you might have heard, during podcast episode 159 the point was made that, if the Masters required for chartered status burdens graduates with a year's more debt, and employers, certainly consultancies, do not in a tight labour market require such status, why would they stay at University for that final year or take on two years of part-time study?

As another example, you might have seen recently that planners at Basildon were subjected to some pretty unpleasant behaviour by some councillors on the planning committee. Discussions with people about that led me to wonder how many planners within LPAs are chartered and so might expect to be able to rely on the RTPI for support were they to launch a complaint about this kind of thing.

My strong sense, and I may be wrong (it has been known...) is that when you speak to public sector planners they tend to say that 'the RTPI only speaks for the private sector' and when you speak to private sector planners they tend to say that 'the RTPI only speaks for the public sector'.

Is that right and, if so, how has that happened?

The RTPI's 'State of the Profession' reports include some interesting findings, such as approximately 75% of planners being chartered, but what proportion of planners working in the public and private sectors are actually members of the RTPI and if they aren't why aren't they? If they are, but their employers pay their fees, would they themselves if their employers stopped so doing?

These seem like interesting questions to be asking and I am not sure that anybody actually has so this is an attempt at doing so.

If you work in the public sector please click this link and if you work in the private sector please click this link.

The surveys will not take very long at all and the results, which I will share when the surveys close on 30 April, though a little unsophisticated, will hopefully provide the basis for a deeper dive into whatever they reveal in due course.

I have also asked some questions of the top ten largest planning consultancies and the top ten-ranked planning barristers that will also hopefully shed a light on the value of RTPI membership.

Watch this space...

Comments

Life on the Front Line

I like it when people get in touch with me to suggest topics for 50 Shades of Planning Podcast episodes because, firstly, it means that people are listening to it and also, and most importantly, it means I do not have to come up with ideas myself. I found this message from a team leader at a local authority striking and sobering though. In a subsequent conversation the person that sent this confided in me that their team is virtually in crisis mode. It is probably fair to say that the planning system is in crisis, but then it is also probably fair to say that the planning system is always in crisis… There is, of course, the issue of resources. Whilst according to a Planning magazine survey slightly more LPAs are predicting growth in planning department budgets (25%) rather than a contraction (22%), this has to be seen in the context of a 38% real-terms fall in net current expenditure on planning functions between 2010–11 and 2017–18. Beyond resources though the current crisis feels m...

50 Shades of Planning T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that... 'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'. I said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt so I have made a few and it does! They are available in black or white (in S, M and L sizes) and are £15 if there is a chance that I'll be able to deliver one to you or £20 if you will need it posting. Please email samstafford@hotmail.com if you would like one. Planning might not be black and white, but the 50 Shades t-shirts are...

YIMBYs and NIMBYs. Is planning becoming a new front in the culture war?

Prepare the barricades, fellow planners; dig out a shelter at the bottom of your garden (if you are lucky enough to have a garden…); and stock up on tins of non-perishable food. There might be a culture war coming and a good planner always spots trouble before it arrives... Given broader cultural, media and political trends it was perhaps only a matter of time before the built environment was subject to the same us versus them, progressive versus regressive factionalism that mars other aspects of public policy and debate. Twitter, of course, is not representative of public opinion, but it can be representative of the cultural, media and political influencers that are shaping it and I spotted this image on there recently. As far as I could tell it was a Brit that posted it and so it is not one of those unseemly intellectual skirmishes breezily dismissed as something our crazy, madcap cousins on the other side of the Atlantic occupy themselves with. Stereotypes are sometimes funny and so...

The 50 Shades of Planning Blog

Search This Blog