PlannerPod

After nearly eight years as the RTPI's chief executive, Dr Victoria Hills is moving on at the end of December. For episode 6 of PlannerPod, we caught up with the outgoing chief to look back on her time at the helm, her successes, her disappointments and her hopes for the institute and for planning. It's a relaxed and candid interview that digs beneath the surface of what drives Victoria and how she's grown into the role, including the revelation of the 'Hillsey gene' and ideas for a t-shirt for planners.

We also catch up with outgoing RTPI Young Planner of the Year, Frances Keenan, who chats about what the young planner of the year actually does, how she's balanced it with work and her advice for her successor.

Presenters: Simon Wicks, Laura Edgar

Guests: Dr Victoria hills, Frances Keenan

Key moments:

00:00 | Intro | Simon Wicks

01:27 Planner picks: Planning for prisons | Cover art | Children's play

04:10 Interview: Dr Victoria Hills | Reasons for leaving | Highlights and successes | Any regrets? | Motivation | Growing into the role | future of planning | Next steps for the RTPI | Victoria's new role

39:03 Interview: Frances Keenan | Being Young planner of the Year | Highlights | Balancing the role with work | Advice for her successor

48:50 Wrap-up and Women of Influence reminder

49:50 Close

In which, The Planner team chats with planners – and social media content creators – Mahsa Ige and Nouvella Kusi about how the planning profession can use social media to talk about planning, urbanism and development with a wider audience.
To coincide with the launch of the RTPI's It Takes Planners & You campaign, we delved into the use of social media platforms to expand the planning profession's reach and to improve its communication with the people who are most affected by planning projects and decisions – the general public.
Over the course of this discussion Mahsa and Nouvella share their thoughts on:
How to get started
Their approach to creating engaging content
How they're building an audience
Dealing with negativity
The impact maintaining a social media channel on them and their working lives
You can find Mahsa and Nouvella on Instagram at
@theurbanplan_her (Nouvella)
@urbanistonamission (Mahsa)

What's the relationship between housing and economic growth? What's required to translate development into healthy economic activity? 

In this National Planning Conference preview, The Planner's Simon Wicks and Nicola Gooch speak to Danny Collins, head of economics for Iceni Projects, and Shanika Mahendran, the cabinet member for planing and placemaking in Milton Keynes about the relationship between housing and economic growth. What makes good growth and the prospect of a new swathe of new towns. Following this, Nicola Gooch delves into some of the planning issues relating to water - the need for it to support new development and the regulation of pollution.
Key moments:

00:00 |Intro | Simon Wicks

01:00 Planner picks: Anglesey engagement | Cover art | National Planning Conference

04:17 Interview: Danny Collins and Shanika Mahendran | Housing and growth | Planning for growth in Milton Keynes |  Securing 'good' growth | Utopian visions | The political backdrop | Infrastructure and growth | New towns and 'renewal' towns

34:38 Spotlight | The water issue

Episode 3 of The Planner magazine's PlannerPod podcast, in which our editorial team is joined by guest host and regular Planner columnist Nicola Gooch to delve into the transformation of the UK's electricity grid with special guest Rob Shaw. We also share our thoughts on the potential of storytelling in planning: can we do a better job of engaging the public with the work of planners?
Hosts: Ben Gosling, Nicola Gooch, Simon Wicks

Guest: Rob Shaw MRTPI, managing director of Third Revolution Projects
Key Moments
00.00 Intro | Ben Gosling

00.43: Planner picks | Strategic planning, L7 apprenticeships, gambling venues, solar overplanting

07.24 The PlannerPod interview | Rob Shaw MRTPI on the UK's grid transformation and the role of planning in facilitating this

40.50 Spotlight | Storytelling and planning

Episode 2 of The Planner magazine's PlannerPod podcast, in which the Planner's editorial team and guests Miriam Levin and Simon Creer pick out their highlights from the last two months of Planner activity, chat about a new report into public engagement and delve into the results of The Planner's 2025 Careers Survey. Can planning do a better job of engaging with the public?

Hosts: Simon Wicks, Laura Edgar and Ben Gosling

Guest: Robbie Calvert, MRTPI, head of policy and research at the RTPI

Key moments:
0:59 Planner picks | Women of Influence reception | UKREiiF | Hippodamus

05:46 The PlannerPod interview | Miriam Levin of Demos and Simon Creer of the RTPI discuss a new report, The MIMBY Majority, and explain how planning can do better to engage with a wider range of people within the communities it affects.

39:40 Spotlight | The Planner Careers Survey 2025