One of the most common topics of conversation that I was party to at the UKREiiF jamboree in Leeds this year was the need for statutory chief planners. There are perhaps three factors behind that interest in building or strengthening leadership capacity within LPAs. First, the impending programme of devolution and local government reform will create larger teams covering larger geographies that will need to co-operate with newly emerging strategic authorities. Second, more authorities being in no overall control need guiding through the decision-making implications of that. And thirdly, the emerging need to manage the possibly contentious gateway test element of the soon statutory scheme of delegation. A role of statutory status, I also heard suggested in the context of wider LPA capacity and skills issues, might be something to encourage a junior officer to stay in local government and work towards were they ever tempted to leave for the bright lights and coffee machines of the private sector.
The RTPI has certainly been keen on statutory chief planners. In February 2025 it set out its legislative proposals for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, urging critical reforms to ensure the planning system can meet housing targets and drive economic growth.
The Government has prioritised planning reforms to “get Britain building.” However, the RTPI warned that, "without proper resourcing and leadership structures in local authorities, planners will struggle to meet the Government’s goals".
To unlock this potential and meet the government’s housing, infrastructure and planning ambitions, the RTPI called for:
- A well-resourced planning system. The RTPI urges the Government to publish a long-term strategy for capacity and resourcing to address the underfunding and understaffing of local planning teams;
- A purpose of planning in legislation. Including a statutory purpose of planning in the Bill will improve public understanding and trust in the system, reducing misinformation at local planning committees;
- No new unfunded legislative duties. Any additional responsibilities for LPAs must come with proper funding and consideration of current resource limitations; and
- Statutory Chief Planning Officers. Only 23% of LPAs have a head of planning reporting to the Chief Executive. A statutory Chief Planning Officer will ensure planners have a seat at the leadership table.
Is it as straight-forward as that though (given that little in the fast-paced, ever-changing rock and roll world of town and country planning ever is)?
Is planning any different from other place functions (environmental health and licensing, for example) that have statutory functions but no statutory status? The most senior planner in an authority might not have a seat at the leadership table, but does that matter if the person at the 'top table' with responsibility for planning knows and values the role of planning? And would a statutory chief planner have to be a member of the RTPI?
These are some of the questions that you will hear discussed by old friends of the podcast Ben Woolnough, Gilian Macinnes and Alice Lester, and new friend of the podcast Grant Butterworth.
Ben (who steers the conversation) is Head of Planning and Building Control at East Suffolk Council; Gilian advises LPAs on improving planning and place-making services and is presently Interim Assistant Director of Planning and Building Control at the Royal Borough of Greenwich; Alice is now doing her own thing having most recently been Corporate Director of Neighbourhoods and Regeneration at the London Borough of Brent; and Grant is Head of Planning at Leicester City Council.
In a conversation recorded online back in July of this year they talk about management structures, relationship and culture; they talk about dealing with poorly behaved councillors; and they talk about the qualities required to be a good chief planner.
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