Think back for a moment to August 2020, to the ‘Planning for the future’ white paper, and to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s desire for “radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the Second World War. Not more fiddling around the edges, not simply painting over the damp patches, but levelling the foundations and building, from the ground up, a whole new planning system for England.” Alongside proposals for “growth, renewal and protection areas” and a new nationally-determined, binding housing requirement that LPAs would have to deliver through their local plans, the white paper proposed to replace the “uncertain and opaque” methods by which developer contributions are sought with a “non-negotiable, nationally set, value-based, flat-rate charge equal to a fixed proportion of the development’s value, above a yet-to-be-determined threshold, that would be levied on the scheme's completion.” This new infrastructure levy would “deliver more of the infrastructure existing and new communities require whilst maintaining at least as much affordable housing by capturing a greater share of the uplift in land value that comes with development”. Further details of the now locally-determined Infrastructure Levy emerged in May last year alongside the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill, which will provide the legislative basis for it. Then, on 17 March this year a consultation was launched seeking views on technical aspects of the design of the Infrastructure Levy.  Friend of the podcast, Simon Ricketts, convened one of his Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse sessions on 19 April to discuss the Infrastructure Levy with a stellar panel that included Clare Fielding, Sasha Gordon, Sam Bensted and Anthony Lee. They have all kindly agreed to let Sam Stafford share a recording of their discussion for this episode. In the Clubhouse room that day and from whom you will also hear contributions were Nicola Gooch and Gilian MacInnes. The discussion takes in rate-setting, thresholds, buffers, the examination of Infrastructure Delivery Strategies and the impact on the delivery affordable housing.  Some accompanying reading. Technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/technical-consultation-on-the-infrastructure-levy Land Value Capture (the Select Committee report) https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/766/766.pdf How far can land value capture be pushed? (The Savills report) https://www.savills.co.uk/research_articles/229130/267514-0 Joint letter to the Secretary of State on the proposed Infrastructure Levy (from the NHF) https://www.housing.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/joint-letter-to-the-secretary-of-state-on-infrastructure-levy/ Council's planning service has no way of tracking developer contributions worth millions of pounds, report finds https://www.northantslive.news/news/northamptonshire-news/councils-planning-service-no-way-8323143 Community Infrastructure Levy review: report to government https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-infrastructure-levy-review-report-to-government Some accompanying listening. Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6-lDqGZJ_0 50 Shades T-Shirts! If you have listened to Episode 45 of 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: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html 50 Shades Artwork. The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by friend of the podcast Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._).

A short while ago friend of the podcast Shelly Rouse got in touch with Sam Stafford asking for suggestions for a lecture that Shelly was giving for another friend of the podcast Charlotte Morphet and her soon-to-be planning grads at Leeds Beckett University. Shelly was after some words of wisdom to help the students with job hunting and the move into the big wide world of work. Sam and Shelly subsequently opened it up to some of the 50 Shades gang and the level of interest and insight was such that Tom Whitehead proposed that it be turned into a 50 Shades episode. This episode then is comprised of some of the past 50 Shades contributors sharing their life lessons. These are predominantly aimed at soon-to-be-grads, but Sam (@samuel_stafford) and the gang hope that they will be of relevance and interest to all planners. In addition to Shelly (@rouse_shelly) and Tom, there are contributions from Andrew Taylor (@AndrewJTaylor3), Ian Wray, Katie Wray (@kluw), Catriona Riddell (@CatrionaRidde1) and Hana Loftus (@hanaloftus). Some accompanying reading. The RTPI https://www.rtpi.org.uk/ Shelly’s presentation https://www.slideshare.net/PAS_Team/leeds-beckett-lecture-career-advicepptx Sam’s blog http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2020/04/memories-of-200809-career-advice-for-my.html?m=1 Some accompanying viewing . Sam’s RTPI London ‘Career Stories’ presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtzHdB1Hr3w Some accompanying listening. Sam’s ‘Careering Off Course’ playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7wBmP4UjeN1Av0y5xQpx9J?si=7aRF5CZRQNSsOU4zMFlzug&nd=1 Sam’s podcast with the Society of Local Council Clerks https://www.slcc.co.uk/news-publications/slcc-podcasts/ 50 Shades 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._).

A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. The planning system, it could be contended, is a triangle. At one vertex there are the officers, the professionals, the technocrats, battling gainfully to get a local plan in place so as to determine planning applications in accordance with it. At another vertex there are the great British public, whose consciousness is only really pricked by planning when an application is mooted that might add vital seconds to waiting times at the end of their road. At the third vertex there are the councillors, who have a responsibility for both a councils’ corporate priorities and the priorities of the people likely to influence their re-election prospects. The role of the councillor has increased considerably, it could be said, since the localism genie was let out of the bottle back in 2010, with an expectation that nobody has sought to dampen since that communities are very much in control even if a site has already been allocated or already has an outline permission. As planning has become more contentious, arguably as a result of said genie being out of said bottle, the number of independent councillors has also increased, and they often soon realise that a council's priorities and the public’s priorities might be two very different things. Is too much expected of councillors or too little? Do councillors have too much power or too little? Should the planning triangle be an equilateral one, with all three parties in perfect harmonious balance, or are the needs of one group any more acute than the others? These are questions that Sam Stafford explored in a conversation recorded remotely with Kevin Whitmore, Catriona Riddell and Adele Morris in December 2022, but is being published now with local elections again back on the horizon. Kevin (T: @kevin_whitmore) is Head of North & Midlands at BECG. Catriona (T: @CatrionaRiddel1) is a Director at Catriona Riddell & Associates. Adele (@AdeleLibDem) is a former councillor in Southwark and a member peer at the Planning Advisory Service. Some accompanying reading. 'Four ways of making councillors accountable for poor decisions' by Catriona (£) https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1799108/four-ways-making-councillors-accountable-poor-decisions-catriona-riddell Rebuilding Trust – research and a discussion paper from Grosvenor https://www.grosvenor.com/property/property-uk/community-success/building-trust 87% of planners say social media fuels misinformation on local planning issues https://www.rtpi.org.uk/news/2023/march/87-of-planners-say-social-media-fuels-misinformation-on-local-planning-issues/ Probity in Planning – LGA and PAS advice for councillors and officers making planning decisions https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/34.2_Probity_in_Planning_04.pdf Some accompanying listening. Canned Heat – Let’s Work Together https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXo6G5mfmro 50 Shades 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html The image of the Piece Hall is used with the kind permission Ellis Robinson (I: @ellisjrobinson) and has been turned into the 50 Shades logo by Vicky Payne (I: @_.vicky_payne._).

In June 2022 the Government consulted on proposals to abolish hope and development value when assessing compensation for land compulsorily purchased for certain kinds of schemes. Nine months after it closed, a response has yet to be published, but many CPO professionals made the point at the time that the proposals would be unfair and that there was no evidence that the risk of paying hope value compensation was deterring promoters from bringing forward CPOs. On 13 March 2023, however, the Government tabled amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which is currently at Committee Stage in the House of Lords. One such amendment would allow “a minister confirming a compulsory purchase order to direct, in certain cases involving affordable housing, health or education, that compensation should be assessed on the basis that no new planning permission would be granted for the land”.  It is known from last June’s consultation document that the Government view is that hope value can lead to “perverse outcomes” that “artificially inflate” compensation because the valuation assumes permission will be granted, even in cases where the likelihood of permission being granted may be relatively low.  What though about the practical impacts of this change? Should the need for housing (and in particular affordable housing) trump the “equivalence” compensation principle? Will the risk of CPO on this basis spook the development sector such that the measures are in any event counter-productive? This episode is a recording of friend of the podcast Simon Ricketts’ Planning Law Unplanned Clubhouse discussion on this subject that took place on 23 March 2022 during which Simon put these questions to Raj Gupta, Jonathan Stott, Greg Dickson, Rebecca Clutten, Venus Galarza and David Baker. Some accompanying reading. The June 2022 CPO reform consultation https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/compulsory-purchase-compensation-reforms-consultation/compulsory-purchase-compensation-reforms-consultation The Compulsory Purchase Association's response to the 2022 reform consultation https://www.compulsorypurchaseassociation.org/compulsory-purchase---compensation-reforms--consultation.html "LURB in the Lords - No Hope" (Raj’s Blog) https://www.townlegal.com/wp-content/uploads/Compulsory-Reading-LURB-in-the-Lords-%E2%80%93-No-Hope.pdf Government amends Bill to allow councils to buy land for affordable housing at existing use value (£) https://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1817953/government-amends-bill-allow-councils-buy-land-affordable-housing-existing-use-value The LURB Amendments https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3155/publications Some accompanying listening. This Land Is Your Land by My Morning Jacket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvTezD4XIU In Color by My Morning Jacket https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2XzUYneUcc 50 Shades 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html

When Karolina Grebowiec-Hall contacted Sam Stafford about sharing her podcast with his LinkedIn network Sam went a step further and invited Karolina to share it by way of the 50 Shades platform. Karolina has created a website called Pinch Yourself You’re A Planner. As she says on it, "I’m discomforted when the conversation about planning and planners reinforces the negatives and misguides how we see ourselves. Planners are a passionate bunch. We need opportunities to take back the conversation, define by ourselves who we are and reclaim the joy of what we do." Karolina’s hope for PYYAP.com is that it will "take shape through blog posts and regular interviews with professionals, pooling shared learning and soliciting contributions from planners who are keen to call out people who inspire them." In Karolina's most recent conversation, which Sam is sharing here, she talks to Bethany Cullen, Head of Development Management at Camden, about life in DM, which, as Bethany says, is often mis-characterised as a reactive regulatory box-ticking exercise rather than something positive and creative. 50 Shades of Planning is the podcast by planners and for planners so if you would like to use it as a platform for anything you are doing or if you have any ideas for episodes that celebrates what planning is and why planners do it then do please feel free to get in touch with Sam at [email protected] Some accompanying reading. Public Practice https://www.publicpractice.org.uk/ The regeneration of Kings Cross https://www.kingscross.co.uk/about-the-development Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Children's Cancer Centre https://www.goshccc.info/ The UK Dementia Research Centre’s new research centre https://ukdri.ac.uk/news-and-events/a-leap-forwards-for-the-future-home-of-uk-dri-at-ucl Some accompanying listening. Let's Push Things Forward by The Streets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGtlUMMkOU 50 Shades 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'. Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html