50 Shades of Planning

• Who's In Control

  Wrexham Council will defend its opposition to plans for 600 homes on land south of Holt Road against the advice of planning officers. The application is due to go to appeal on September 29 but at a meeting of Wrexham County Borough Council’s Planning Committee on Monday, senior planning officer Matthew Phillips said no-one within the council’s planning department could represent the council in front of Planning and Environment Decisions Wales inspectors. “I would be in a difficult position defending that as it would go contrary to the Royal Town Planning Institute’s professional charter which says officers shouldn’t try to defend a position contrary to their professional recommendation in an inquiry,” he said. This passage, from a Nation Cymru article (link below) caught Sam Stafford's eye a little while ago. The responses that he received after sharing it with a few people convinced him that this was fertile ground for a 50 Shades episode... Why shouldn’t a professional planner (albeit not the original recommending officer) be able to support a different weighing of the issues by members and put that case forward at an appeal on their behalf? That would, at the very least, save on the cost of consultants. On the other side of the coin, if the integrity of professional opinion is not sacred is the system not fundamentally undermined? And if councillors did have to defend decisions taken against an officer’s recommendation would it not focus minds more and encourage less playing to the gallery? How to take decisions, how to write reports, and how to weigh the professional judgment of planners against the democratic accountability of councillors are some of the themes discussed in this episode, which is a conversation recorded online between Mike Kiely, Simon Ricketts, Annie Gingell, Gilian Macinnes and Ben Woolnough, who were steered along the way by Hashi Mohamed. Some accompanying reading Brighton Gasworks appeal decision and costs award Councillors will defend 600-home planning appeal after ignoring officers’ advice The Only Way Is Ethics – What Is The Role Of The Professional Witness? The basics #18 - planning barristers, Linkedin, and the “cab rank” rule The basics #20 - weighing things up The Nolan Principles - keeping the public front of mind Probity in planning: Advice for councillors and officers making planning decisions Some accompanying listening Who’s In Control – Sea Power Any other business. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.

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• Hitting the High Notes - Alice Lester

  This is the fourteenth episode in Sam Stafford's Hitting the High Notes series. If you have not listened to one of these before the basic proposition is that Sam chats to preeminent figures in the planning and property sectors about the six planning permissions or projects that helped to shape them as professionals. And, so that listeners can get to know people a little better personally, for every project or stage of their career Sam also asks his guests for a piece of music that reminds them of that period. Think of it as town planning’s equivalent of Desert Island Discs. Unlike Desert Island Discs though you will not hear any of that music during the episode because using commercially-licensed music without the copyright holders permission or a very expensive PRS licensing agreement could land Sam in hot water, so, when you have finished listening, you will have to make do with YouTube videos and a Spotify playlist, links to which you will find below. Sam's guest for this episode of Hitting The High Notes is Alice Lester who, planners might have read back in June 2025, is stepping down from her role as Corporate Director for Neighbourhoods & Regeneration at Brent Council. In a conversation recorded at Soho Radio Studios at the end of July 2025, Alice takes Sam through her career to date. Alice talks about her early days in development control, rising through the ranks in Westminster and Camden; her decade or so at the Planning Advisory Service; her involvement with Wembley Park and encounters with Tony Pidgley; and her drive to make it easier for the people of Brent to build kitchen extensions... Some accompanying listening. Alice’s Spotify playlist London Calling – The Clash Love Is A Losing Game – Amy Winehouse Freedom! 90 – George Michael Shake It Off – Taylor Swift (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding Our House – Madness Some accompanying reading. Charles Goode’s Green Belt Book Launch and Discussion Any other business. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.

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• What's Going On?

  Sam Stafford was in London recently and took the opportunity to catch up with friends of the podcast Nicola Gooch, Catriona Riddell, Andrew Taylor, Annie Gingell and Iain Thomson. Over the course of an hour or so at Soho Radio Studios they enjoyed a good ol’ fashioned 50 Shades-style ramblechat about a few of the hot topics exercising the planning profession at the moment. They talked water neutrality and about statutory consultees, specifically the need to engage utility providers with the Spatial Development Strategy process. They talked about the merits of locally-set application fees. They talked about grant funding for affordable housing; the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill, which led on to Assets of Community Value; the use of hotels for the accommodation of asylum seekers; Level 7 Apprenticeships; and they talked about data centres. Some accompanying reading. Crest Nicholson Operations Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government & Anor [2025] EWHC 2194 (Admin) (22 August 2025) Chief Planner’s Newsletter Devolution or revolution? – a brief guide to the changes proposed by the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill English devolution: Area factsheets Planning Law Is Being Used For Politicking About Asylum Seekers RTPI warns Housing Minister of major threat to planning profession from apprenticeship restrictions Data centres to be expanded across UK as concerns mount Data centres as vital as NHS and power grid, government says Grid delays now rival planning as chief threat to project delivery Decoding Data Centers: Opportunities, risks and investment strategies Life on the Front III Some accompanying viewing. Fawlty Towers S1/E2 - 'The Builders' Some accompanying listening. What’s Going On? – Marvin Gaye Any other business. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.

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• All Around The World - USA

  This is the first of a new series of episodes being led by Paul Smith, who regular 50 Shades listeners will know is the Managing Director at the Strategic Land Group and a Housing Today columnist. Paul put it to Sam Stafford recently that debates about the planning system in England tend, for the most part, to focus solely on the planning system in England. Paul wanted to remedy that and so in this series he will chat with planning professionals and academics from a number of countries to find out what works well there, what works less well, and what planners in England can learn. First up, the USA, and a conversation with Emily Hamilton, who is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center, which is part of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. Paul and Emily talk amongst other things about the role of federal government, “comprehensive plans” and whether there is a link between more liberal zoning arrangements and housing affordability. Some accompanying reading. Transit orientated zoning in Washington DC Zoning code accidentally abolished in Charlottesville Zoning out American families Planorama: How the English planning system can learn from abroad Some accompanying viewing. US Zoning, Explained Some accompanying listening. Special Economic Zone – Sex Swing Any other business. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.

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• New politics, New Towns and new books

  Sam Stafford was in Manchester recently and took the opportunity to catch up with old friends of the podcast Ian Wray, Claire Petricca-Riding and David Diggle, and new friends of the podcast Charlotte Leach and Louise Fountain. Over the course of an hour or so they enjoyed a good ol’ fashioned 50 Shades ramblechat. They talked about the increasingly rancorous nature of planning and whether a sense of fractiousness and febrility is driving the rise of Reform as a political force. They also talked about New Towns and Ian’s 'Northern Arc' proposition, and, towards the end, they swapped holiday reading recommendations. Some accompanying reading. The Rise of Reform How Britain's high street decline is fuelling Reform UK's rise: 'There's a sense that politics has failed' We won’t let residents block big new towns, says planning minister (£) On New Towns ‘We have to move’: historic village of Tempsford reels from plan to swell its 600 residents to 350,000 A ‘once in a generation’ opportunity for the UK’s next wave of new towns The reality of the Northern Arc The Planning Alliance Life on the Front Line III The 50 Shades Book Club When The Circus Leaves Town - Dave Proudlove Nairn’s Towns - Ian Nairn Prisoners of Geography - Tim Marshall A waiter in Paris – Edward Chisholm The Danish Way of Parenting - Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing Sandahl  Why We Get The Wrong Politicians - Isabel Hardmen Great British Plans – Ian Wray Some accompanying viewing. Nairn across Britain Nairn's Journeys - Football Towns (Huddersfield and Halifax) Some accompanying listening. Episode 36. Can the British plan? A Fresh Dawn For North Cheshire - Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan Any other business. 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here. Sam is on Bluesky and Instagram. His blog contains a link to his newsletter.

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