The 50 Shades of Planning Blog

Episode 176 of the podcast is available now via this link or from the usual podcast platforms. A couple of months ago I saw that Shaun Knights at Preston City Council and national vice chair of the Young Planning Officers Society (POS), had posted on LinkedIn encouraging nominations for POS’ ‘Emerging Planner Award’ (EPA). “I’ve already seen some genuinely impressive submissions that show the amazing day‑to‑day work young planners are doing and the fresh ideas they’re bringing into LPAs”, Shaun wrote. “Hmm”, thought I. "I am interested in the amazing day‑to‑day work that young planners are doing and the fresh ideas they’re bringing into LPAs, and I bet that 50 Shades listeners would be too..." I sent Shaun a message asking if he and his Young POS colleagues would be up for making an episode together with some of the planners that were subsequently short-listed for the award and he was, and some of them were, and so they put together what you are will hear ahead of and after...

Episode 175 of the podcast  is available now via this link below or from the usual podcast platforms. The role of local councillors in the planning system has been a familiar topic of conversation on the podcast in the context of, for example, overturning officer recommendations and the case for a national scheme of delegation. There is less talk about the role of MPs in the planning system, which is something that friend of the podcast Andrew Taylor wanted to remedy. This then is the second of what he and I hope will be five episodes exploring the role of a member of a parliament by way of conversations that Andrew records with representatives from the now five major parties. This time, the Liberal Democrats, and a conversation recorded with Vikki Slade and Sarah Gibson at Soho Radio Studios in April 2026. Andrew, regular listeners will know, is Group Planning and Sustainability Director at Vistry. Vikki represents Mid Dorset and North Poole and is a former group leader on B...

Episode 174 of 50 Shades of Planning is available now via this link or from the usual podcast platforms. I was in London recently and whilst there caught up with friends of the podcast Hana Loftus , Mike Kiely , Nicola Gooch , Simon Ricketts and Andrew Taylor . Hana is a Director at HAT Projects; Mike is a former Chief Planner and now an independent planning consultant working mainly in the public sector; Nicola is a Partner at Birketts; Simon is a Partner at Town Legal and Andrew is Group Planning & Sustainability Director at Vistry. In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios  we chatted about some of the hot topics exercising the planning profession at the minute. We talked about the legal challenge by some London boroughs to the Mayor’s package of time-limited emergency measures to support housebuilding. We talked about planning committees, the national scheme of delegation, statutory chief planners, the designation of LPAs for poor performance, the Nature Restoratio...